The Red Star
by Kartoshka
Summary: A mercenary organization is hired to ensure the Academy's safety. One of the mercenaries, however, shows extreme hostility towards Laura. But who is this boy, that stops at nothing to make her life a living hell? As a new enemy reveals itself, fighting furious battles with both the Academy and Phantom Task, a doubtful ally chooses to aid Ichika and his harem in their fight.
1. Prologue

Germany, Berlin, Potsdamer Square

She absolutely hated the cold.

As Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch stepped out of her tiny apartment at the Potsdamer Square, she immediately regretted her choice of not wearing an extra scarf. To her luck the headquarters of the german military-special-unit "Schwarzer Hase", to which she was underway, were located on the opposite side of the Potsdamer Square, so she didn't had to bother with the cold for too long.

While walking she looked up, hoping to see a piece of sun in the sky.

Much to her disappointment, all she could see where black clouds and falling snowflakes. Since yesterday, the snow was falling and had created a remarkable layer of snow. Most of the traffic was jammed and the city cleaners had to work extra shifts to clear it all up.

The dark-blue-haired woman sighed in relief as she entered the warm lobby of the Angela-Merkel-Skyscraper and took out her ID.

All employees, which worked in the building were in possession of a duty-ID. It was the only way to reach the floor, they were working on, because the building had no staircase.

This was meant to prevent any intruders from entering the office floors and stealing data from the companies or their employees. She waited until an empty elevator arrived. She quickly slipped in and let her ID glide over the sensor. The doors suddenly locked themselves and another floor appeared on the digital display. She touched the button which lead to the floor and felt how the elevator started moving. The Elevator went downward into the headquarters of "Schwarzer Hase".

When Clarissa arrived, she was greeted as usual by her comrades.

The unit consisted exclusively of women, all of which were wearing a black eyepatch covering their left eye. This was because their eyes featured an integrated miniature version of the Hyper-Sensor-Package, a system designed to heavily boost the human sensory system. The left eye of a person that was undergoing the process of receiving the HSP was removed and replaced by an artificial eye which, for some reason, was only available in yellow color.

Because of this, the members of "Schwarzer Hase" were forced to wear eyepatches in every place they went to prevent detection by anyone who might want to use them against the government. Clarissa was ripped from her thoughts when she arrived at the OPS of the headquarters. She was greeted loud and not to ignore by the crew members that were already present.

"Lieutenant, Sir. You are late." The somehow childish voice came from Sargent Maia, her second-in-command." Laughingly Clarissa replied: "It´s good to see you too, Sargent. Anyone missing?" "Commander Bodewig is still at the IS Academy in Japan, but everyone else is present, Sir." "Allright, then let´s begin with the daily schedule."

In fact, Clarissa herself was only the second-in-command of the unit, but the acting commander, Laura Bodewig, left the country a few months ago with the purpose of attending the IS Academy in Japan, the only one of its kind worldwide. She called Clarissa only one time, with the purpose of getting advice about Japanese swimsuit trends. Until then, none of the members of "Schwarzer Hase" had received any personal message from Laura, but they were able to keep track of the events in the IS Academy via News.

On this way they had found out, that Laura´s personal IS featured an integrated Valkyrie Trace System.

This system was meant to increase the strength of its user during the battle, by mimicking the tactics of the winners of the Mondo Grosso Tournament. However, the system was prohibited due to various reasons including the pilot´s safety. Every member had watched it´s activation and rampage through the IS Academy with horror.

Luckily the IS of Laura was defeated by Ichika Orimura, a first-year student at IS Academy and the only male in the world who was able to pilot an IS. Clarissa herself had developed a deep admiration for him and was curios to meet him. But those thoughts didn´t kept her from doing her work, which was to run military simulations and weapon tests. Although "Schwarzer Hase" was a unit to be deployed in military conflicts, they were used as Weapons Research Department in peaceful times.

Their work was boring and they began to talk about everything that made its way into their head. It was until the alarm suddenly went off, making everyone in the room flinch. Clarissa immediately set up a link to the guards but none of them responded.

When she had a look into the surveillance cameras, all she could see was white. Suddenly a loud voice came from her communicator: "Hello is anyone there? This is the Gate Guard. We´re under attack by unknown attackers. They have already breached into the main testing area and we´re in desperate need for backup."

Clarissa immediately pressed the button to make a facility-wide announcement: "This is Clarissa Harfouch. All security forces move to the main testing area, I repeat all units move to the main testing area."

She told Maia to activate the security drones. On the screen could then be seen how the drones swarmed the main testing facility and immediately began raining fire upon the attackers. Unfortunately, a loose shot hit the camera and once again she only saw white.

"Everyone, we cannot just watch while our facility is being torn apart. The mobilization will take some time so let´s grab some guns and give `em hell." The armory was only a few doors away, so they were equipped in next to no time.

Clarissa had chosen an HK866 Assault Rifle, Maia was equipped with an DSR-3 Sniper Rifle and the rest of the team chose the HK242 to provide covering fire.

As soon as they entered the main testing facility alongside their reinforcements they were greeted by a bullet, which only missed Clarissa´s chest for centimeters and instead hit Maia in the leg. She cried out in pain and sunk to her knees trying to stop the bleeding on her leg. Clarissa took cover behind a stacked layer of destroyed drones while the rest of her team moved to the other side of the room where they were harder to hit but in return, didn´t had great field of shot. Clarissa could only hear Maia groaning in pain.

At this moment she began to feel an indescribably rage that made up its way her throat. She dropped out of her cover and let a scream filled with hatred through the air. The first intruder that came into her field of sight was immediately shot down and as other members of the unit heard that scream they knew it was their time to fight. As she made her way to the scattered front units she encountered more and more of the intruders. They were all dressed in a complete white soldier garniture and every one of them had a red star sticking on their vest. They all seemed to speak Russian and were highly trained in armed and unarmed combat, due to the many corpses an injured lying around. Most of them had bullet wounds but a remarkable number were also featuring injuries caused by knifes and fists. As she reached the outermost foothold she immediately demanded a situation report. To her surprise the person that felt spoken to most, was none other than her intelligence officer, Emilie. "The enemy has taken us by surprise. We are still busy with fortifying our covers and patch up the injured. The attackers seem to be highly trained mercenaries, I´ll have to gather some Intel later." "You know anything about that red star on their chests?" "If I wasn't under constant fire I would be able to find out something." "I´m gonna take your position. Just go and do what you do best." "Yes, Sir."

Emilie immediately bended down to her knees and opened her chest pocket, taking out her cellphone. Clarissa meanwhile took aim for the head of the next mercenary stupid enough to take a look over his cover. A few loud bangs later the man went down. From the opposite side of the room she could hear the Russians swear loud as hell. She couldn't speak Russian but there were enough words she could understand without having taken language lessons. Probably that was what saved her live as she heard one of the men scream: "Ostorozhno, grenada." She didn't understand the first part but as she heard the second word she got up in a matter of nanoseconds. Before the grenade-thrower could slip back into his cover his head was perforated with bullets. To her despair she noticed a shiny object flying through the air. But before it could reach the ground it was shot down and exploded, making only little fragments hit the ground.

Clarissa turned into the direction the shot came from and saw Maia lying on a wall-like layer of destroyed drones. Talking of drones, Clarissa noticed, that the drones had been wiped from the sky only in a matter of minutes.

It made the situation look worse than it already was.

If those mercenaries were able to deal with a number of drones this large and still be able to resist them in a remarkable manner, they were screwed. Suddenly she had an Idea: she herself was in possession of a personal IS "Schwarzer Zweig". She slapped herself mentally several times, for not having this Idea earlier and activated her IS. She was well aware of the destruction this battle would cause, but it was nothing in comparison to what would happen if the facility fell into the hands of the mercenaries.

As she rose up in the air she could see the shocked expression on the mercenaries´ faces which put a little smile on her face. She accelerated to attack speed and made her way through the hall to aid her struggling comrades. The mercenaries were no match, as most of them just tried to shoot her as soon as they noticed her.

It wasn't long until she returned to the now stabilized front lines. Three mercenaries were still holding out and as soon as they noticed her, tried to shoot her which, of course, was no match for her IS.

Suddenly their commanding officer shouted at them in accentless German: "Get the AISC! Quickly!" The two mercenaries ran off to the exit of the facility but Clarissa was able to grab one at his leg before he was able to enter the corridor.

She lifted him up and shook him making him lose his weapon. Then she shouted: "Who the hell are you? Why are you attacking us?" The mercenary just replied laughingly: "Looks like intelligence failed us once again."

"Wha- What do you mean by that?"

"Isn´t "Schwarzer Hase" supposed to be a special unit consisting of the best fighters the German military has to offer."

"We do consist of the best. And for comparison, we can pilot IS, you cannot."

"You may have a point but where I come from special units are not only good at fighting but also at developing tactics and strategies."

"As you can see we developed a very good tactic to decimate your troops, so what are you trying to say?"

"I know, I know but"

"What but?" She shouted.

"You forgot one of the most important combat rules: Always watch your back while interrogating enemies in the field." He replied calmly.

With that said he took out an EMP-grenade and slammed it into her IS´s arm. The grenade went of nanoseconds later making her loose her grip in the soldier which then laughingly ran away into the corridor. She tried to shoot him but was distracted by a clang on her back. She turned around only to see the laughing mercenary commander, holding a grenade launcher in his hands. The following explosion threw her down to the ground. As she stood up she was filled with anger and hatred once more. She got into the air chasing directly after the mercenary. He just laughed und moments before she reached him he jumped up a solid ten meters into the air.

She could just gaze at him before crashing into a layer of drones which then fell down covering her whole body.

As she struggled to stand up the mercenary walked over to her and said: "This is why I hate girls like you. You are impulsive and overlook the important things. If you don't want to lose your honor among your comrades and superiors you better fight me well next time. I´m gonna wait for you at the corridor."

He walked away and sat down at the wall next to the exit corridor but still in Clarissa´s field of sight. He took of his full-face-covering combat helmet, which revealed a white balaclava beneath it.

The little part of his face that she could see through the balaclava was covered in sweat and the boy was heavily breathing. It was clear that this fight did exhaust him.

She lied there for a time until she felt the weight on her shoulders being lifted slowly. She looked around only to be surprised by Emilie and Maia using Zero-G-Generators to make the scrapped drones hover off her back.

At the same time two other SH-members slipped out of their covers, their weapons pointed at the boy. He slowly raised his hands and stood up. When he was escorted into front of Clarissa she took a closer look at him.

She couldn´t see anything usefull in his face shrouded except for an eyepatch that covered his left eye.

"I´m going to ask one last time before I´ll slap you with my IS. Who are you and why are you attacking us?"

"I´m going to tell you as soon as you defeat me." He replied chuckling. "I even might tell you why this operation is more important to me than to my superiors. Besides if you slap me I´m more likely to get knocked out which will reduce your chance of getting information to zero."

Clarissa frowned at him and nodded at her comrades. The two other SH-Members lost their grip on the boy. He put on his combat helmet and shifted into a battle pose.

That sudden rise of aggression put a little smile on her face: "Pretty big words for someone who´s about to get beat up. I hope you know the rules. 1vs1, no one interferes until the battle is over. The battle ends if one of the combatants is unable to continue in an orderly manner. Everything is allowed to be used in the battle in order to disable your opponent."

"Sounds good to me."

"Then let´s go."

She immediately charged at him. He acted exactly how she predicted by jumping up into the air. She ignited a jump boost to follow him into the air and tried to grab his leg. However, he seemed to have foreseen this and turned himself making her grab another EMP-grenade instead of his leg. As he began to fall back down the grenade went off in her hand making her flinch for a second. Before she could get back into her battle stance she crashed against the ceiling of the main testing facility.

At this moment she had an idea. She closed her eyes to make it look like she was unconscious. She could still her the bleeping of her altimeter. Shortly before it went off into a constant bleep she ripped off her eyepatch. Now everything around, her went really slow. She turned her head several times and as she finally catched sight of the mercenary she thrusted forward catching him by surprise.

She hit him with the back of her hand and he was sent flying through the air. He crashed against the wall and hit the ground near the exit corridor. Clarissa watched him trying to get up for a while. As he was unable to do so he began crawling in the direction of the exit but Clarissa jumped right in front of him. "What about your promise, boy?" He just began laughing. "Do you really think I would betray my comrades?" "You really are a strange person. In case you didn't notice: Most of your comrades are dead and the last two have abandoned you."

"It was all part of our plan." He replied "Besides how many corpses do you see lying around here?"

Clarissa took a few glimpses around.

He was right. Most of the corpses she could see were members of "Schwarzer Hase" and only one seemed to be a mercenary. "If that's so, then even more comrades have abandoned you."

"Actually they´re all standing behind that blast door." He pointed at the corridor blast door. He pressed a button at his wrist and shouted: "Fire the AISC. Now." Clarissa suddenly was wrapped in a light a then everything went black.

As she opened her eyes she was lying in a corner of the OPS. She tried to move but noticed that her hands were tied behind her back. She took another look around and noticed Maia and Emilie lying around, both unconscious. She also noticed two mercenaries standing at the entrance of the OPS.

As she tried to move one of the mercenaries took out his communicator. "Sir, this is OPS-G-1. It seems one of the commanders has woken up. I thought you might want to talk to her." "Excellent, I´m going to be here in a few minutes. Make sure she doesn't hurt anyone." "Yes Sir."

A few minutes went by and then the door opened and the mercenary commander she had fought with earlier came in. He was sitting in a wheelchair and was pushed by another mercenary. He stopped a few meters from Clarissa. He then stepped out of the wheelchair, made a few more steps into her direction and then laid down on his back.

"Bring that wheelchair back to where we got it from."

The other mercenary nodded and collapsed the wheelchair. He then left the room. The mercenary commander looked at Clarissa and said: "Now you can ask me anything you want."

"That's good. Because I´ve got a ton of questions. First off: Why don't you just sit in your wheelchair and why do you even need it?"

"I needed that wheelchair because you broke two of my dorsal vertebras when throwing me against that wall. Second: That Wheelchair was stolen from a pensioner not far from here. It´d be a shame if she didn´t got it back wouldn´t it? But I think you have much more important questions."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Isn´t that obvious. See this?" He pointed at the red star on his vest. "It seems although Germany is an advanced country news are still spreading at medieval speed."

He laughed. "But let me tell you a little story. A few days ago, there was a bank robbery in Frankfurt. The attackers were well equipped and took several hostages. The police couldn't reach anything through negotiations so the send an SEK. The SEK was completely wiped out but the attackers did not kill any hostages and kept demanding for an escape vehicle. The police made another attempt of rescuing the hostages by sending the GSG9. It was a fight indeed, but the GSG9 had to retread after too many casualties. In the end the situation was solved by sending in an Police-IS. But the attackers seemed to be a very heavy obstacle even for an IS. Mostly because some of them were able to jump up ten meters in the air and land again without any injuries."

He made a break only to be interrupted by Clarissa. "That means you have participated in that robbery."

He looked at her with an expression of played impression. "You catch on more quickly than expected. Yes, I did participate in that robbery. But let me finish first. Well, the robbery ended with the attackers retreating in an amphibious tank which suddenly crashed through a wall and several million euros. There were minimal casualties on the side of the mercenaries. Although they all seemed to be from different countries they had one thing in common."

"The Red Star." She interrupted him once again.

He smiled at her. "You´re right and now that this topic is finished you can guess what happens in all major cities of Germany at this point."

She was shocked at the next moment. "Oh, no." She whispered almost impossible to hear.

"Oh yes." He replied laughingly. "Wha- What´s the meaning of this?"

He began to laugh once. "I thought this was obvious. Germany is getting annexed and no one knows it."

"Just wait you little …. As soon as Commander Bodewig hears of this she will come and beat you."

At that, the boy only continued laughing.

"You´re a funny one. Let me tell you one thing: Before it comes that far, I´ll deal with her myself."


	2. Arrival

**WARNING: this story contains memes and badly translated German quotes.**

 **I do not own the rights to Infinite Stratos nor do I claim them in any way.**

* * *

IS Academy, Japan

One week later

Ichika was woken up when he felt something tickling his nose. As he opened his eyes he could see Tatenashi swing a feather in his face.

Still sleepy he tried to push her away but the tickling in his nose was already too strong. He sneezed a few times and from this point on was completely awake.

"Tatenashi, cut it out." He angrily ranted at her.

Tatenashi just put up a childish expression on her face and smiled: "Where would be the fun in that? Besides if I would just let you continue to sleep you would have woken up by noon. I doubt Miss Orimura would be okay with that."

He got out of his bed and sighed: "You got a point there. Still, why did you have to wake me up this early?" He pointed out to the balcony into the black night.

Tatenashi began to chuckle: "Dense as ever. Take a look at the clock. It´s already 6 AM, you genius. Remember it´s winter."

Ichika gazed at the clock which proved her statement right. He slipped out of his covers and went into the bathroom to dress himself.

As he came back he noticed Tatenashi lying on her bed and looking out of the window. She seemed to haven´t noticed him because she flinched for a moment as he sat beside her. He just smiled at her which made her restore her resting position.

"What are you thinking about, hm?" He asked.

She blushed for a moment and then returned to longingly looking out of the window.

She remained like that for a second before looking at him and then said: "I was just thinking about the future. I don't think you´re gonna be a teacher here. You´re lacking talent for that. From your current attitude I don't think you´re going to have any occupation that has something to do with IS either. After all you were forced to attend the Academy weren´t you?"

He just smiled and then replied: "Don't you worry about me. I´m going to be okay. You should be more concerned about your own future." She returned to looking out of the window for several minutes before deciding to tease him a little bit more. "I´m tired."

And with that said, she laid her head into his lap. Ichicka blushed and asked with a trace of helplessness in his voice: "Could you please get off my lap? You have a pillow yourself."

She just replied laughingly:" Nope, would be too much effort moving from here to there."

They stayed like this for a while until Ichika began stroking her hair.

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked him with a trace of panic in her voice.

He stopped stroking her hair and replied chuckling: "Don't you wanna feel comfortable while lying in my lap or does it make you feel uncomfortable? In this case I´ll stop." She blushed and replied a little panicking:" No, no, no it´s okay, it´s okay. Just continue, please."

"And I thought it would be that easy to get rid of you." She turned around trying to look angry at him but the smile in his face soon made her smile herself. It went on like this for a time until Ichika had a look on the clock. "Class is about to begin. We should get going. Come on." She just gave him a sad look, which mad him smile even more. He carefully lifted her head of his lap and laid it on the bed. She just sighed and got up.

As they came into the classroom the sun had already risen a bit into the sky. He wasn´t bothered with that and proceeded by greeting his friends, Houki, Cecillia, Lingyin, Charlotte and Laura. They all engaged in a discussion about the recent terror attacks in Germany and if Phantom Task could be the one conducting these operations. I didn´t seem possible from Tatenashi´s point of view, because if it were like this the Sarashiki family´s informants would have told her.

The discussion was interrupted once Miss Orimura entered the classroom. "All right, everyone. Listen up." She shouted. It was silent immediately. "Due to the recent terror attacks the leadership of the Academy has decided to hire a private military corporation. The one we decided to hire is called "White Star". Does anyone know something about it?"

Laura raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Bodewig?"

"The White Star was founded in 1937 and conducted minor security operations all over Eurasia during WW2 and the Cold War. The first time they came into the international focus was in 2022 after they helped exposing and dismantling an international terror-network. Said network also aided the rise of the Argentinian Dictator who was responsible for the Antarctica-Crisis. Since then they haven't grown much and their last involvement in a major conflict was in 2031 during the ISIS-Uprising. They always have up-to-date equipment and are known for having the best price-performance-ratio. At this point they have a member count of about two-hundred-fifty-thousand active duty personnel and about seven-hundred-fifty-thousand reservists. The name of their leader is yet unknown. What is also remarkable is that they were able to maintain a stable financial base after the introduction of the IS and the fall of private security corporations."

Chifuyu nodded and continued: "We have hired about one hundred mercenaries working for the "White Star". They have already arrived at the harbor and if you have any questions you can ask them."

She made a quick break and continued: "Because of that and the security arrangements we have to make; all lessons will be canceled today."

Indescribable cheers filled the air and the students immediately left either for their rooms or the harbor. Ichika decided to check out about those commanders.

On his way he noticed that only he and his friends as well as a few other students actually were on the way to the harbor, while the others went god-can-tell-where.

Although Chifuyu hadn´t revealed the exact location of the mercenary commanders it was pretty obvious where to find them. On the side of the island that directly faced the ocean, there was a military dock, in which every ship that transported military goods to the academy had to dock.

As they approached the military dock they could hear people singing. After further following the voices, they got to a pier on which a warship had been docked. In the pier stood a small group of people, clad in white uniforms with one of them facing the rest of the group.

Although their leader seemed to have noticed them he just continued until his squad was finished. When he was finished he waved his hand, signalizing them to come over.

When they stood in front of him, he bowed down to greet them, as it was tradition in Japan. "Greetings. I´m the commanding officer of company 1-1-1 of the "White Star" and commander of our forces in the region. You must be Ichika Orimura, it´s an honor to meet you."

He suddenly was interrupted by Tatenashi: "I´m more interested in the song you have just sung. Do you mind singing its first verse again?"

The leader smiled. "Looks like we have someone who´s interested in culture. Okay Boys once again." He turned to his men and they began to sing

Rossija — swjaschtschennaja nascha derschawa,  
Rossija — ljubimaja nascha strana.  
Mogutschaja wolja, welikaja slawa  
Twojo dostojanje na wsje wremena!

As they finished he turned back to Tatenashi and asked: "Did you like it?" "You´d be surprised about how much I understood." "You're Russia´s representative so I think you understood pretty much everything. By the way, do you mind if we sing one last song, before everyone is ready?"

"Depends on what you want to sing."

"We´re always singing the national anthems of our company´s Lieutenants before conducting an operation. We have already sung the American Anthem, the Canadian one and the Russian one. The only one missing is the German one."

"Okay I think I can let you do that."

"Thank you." He turned back to his men. "Alright boys, German anthem. Give it all you got."

"STOP!" Someone shouted from the ship and a mercenary landed right in front of the commander.

The commander smiled and said:" Ah, Lieutenant. It´s good to see that you got up in time."

"Sorry. I bumbed my head before I went to bed yesterday. Honestly, it still feels like someone is hammering on my forehead. But I couldn´t miss my favorite anthem."

"And you´re willing to put your health on the line for something like that? Why do I get the feeling that will put us in danger one day?"

"You don´t. Now let´s sing that goddamn anthem and get to work."

The Lieutenant got into line and the began to sing

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,  
Über alles in der Welt,

Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze  
Brüderlich zusammenhält,  
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,  
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt –  
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,  
Über alles in der Welt!  
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,  
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang  
Sollen in der Welt behalten  
Ihren alten schönen Klang,  
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern  
Unser ganzes Leben lang –  
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,  
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang!  
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit  
Für das deutsche Vaterland!  
Danach lasst uns alle streben  
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!  
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit  
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand –  
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,  
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!

They all saluted as they were finished but Laura began to complain: "Where did you get those two verses from? The German anthem consists only of one verse. That's not the real German anthem."

The commander wanted to say something but the Lieutenant stepped forward." Let me handle her, Sir. I know how to deal with such girls."

The commander just looked at him for a moment and then said:" Alright, but don't mess it up like last time." They both laughed and the commander and the other men retreated to the ship.

Now the Lieutenant turned to Laura and chuckled.

"Did you ever take any history lessons in that super-soldier-program?" He asked spiteful.

Laura just glared at him. " What´s that supposed to mean?"

"So, you didn´t." He concluded. "Cause if you did you would have known that the German anthem originally consisted of these three verses but after WW2 was changed so that no one would get any thoughts of Nazis when hearing the anthem."

He grunted and continued his speech:" You´re a typical product of Germany. They only make what is needed at the moment and when it´s found useless it gets thrown into the bin. If I remember right you were "born" in 2024, a year after the Antarctica-Crisis. At this time everyone was afraid as hell and now look to where it got us. A bunch of soulless brats and their mindless leader that don´t know what to do in those times of peace."

He turned away to look at the massive warship, lying in the harbor and didn´t even bother paying attention to Laura, who began losing hold of herself.

"Excuse me?" She asked infuriated. "We are soldiers. It´s our job to protect and if necessary fight for our homeland and the ones we love. Now take a look at yourself. You are someone who´s fighting only for the money and runs when the situation becomes dire. We are honorable. We are holding our ground whether we´ll survive or not."

Without turning around, he replied:" With all due respect I can show when talking to you, the White Star has never broken a single contract in more than a hundred years of operations. Not a single one, while you Germans ran away as soon as the Russians took not even half your tanks during the Great Patriotic War. You are cowards."

Unbelievingly, Laura stared at him.

"That so-called Great Patriotic War was ages ago and it wasn´t even patriotic. The Russians only fought out of fear of Stalin and it would be absolutely foolish to try and compare these times to now."

At that, the Lieutenant turned back to Laura.

"You´re wrong." He said determined. "The only foolish thing is to believe you could become any less of a human than you are right now. You´re just a tool that´s used by the decadent elites of your country."

A moment later he added:" Just like the German soldiers back then."

In this moment all the anger she had suppressed returned and she tried to slap him.

However, he simply turned his back to her which made her hit his spinal column.

Laura stopped her assault due to the metallic sound that occurred when she hit his spinal column and the following pain in her hand.

She could just throw a confused gaze at the mercenary who was laughing like crazy.

Ichika had to do something. He jumped between the two and turned to the mercenary:" Please, for whatever reason you hate Laura and Germany, don let this escalate here."

He then turned to Laura and said:" Laura, there´s no reason to attack someone, just because he´s saying what he believes. You discriminated against England and China before, remember?"

They were both returning to their normal stances and mumbling an indistinct "guess you´re right". But the mercenary didn´t ran out of topics to discuss.

"Well, since I´m already here, couldn´t you give me a tour through the academy?"

Ichika turned to the others. "We don't have anything else to do, so I think it´ll be okay. What do you think, guys?"

Everyone except Laura agreed.

Their guest was very impressed by the facilities the Academy featured. Especially the bath was one of his favorite places. He even suggested coming here during his scarce free time.

When they came to the arena he and Laura suddenly gazed at each other. He asked her chuckling:" This looks like the perfect place to settle the score, don´t you agree?"

She stared at him in confusion. "You don't really want to do this."

"Of course I want to." He replied.

"Why?" She muttered "I would beat you in a matter of seconds and you have no way of properly defending yourself against my weapons, so if I didn´t want to kill you I would have to refrain from using two of my four main weapons."

"As far as I can remember, one of your four "weapons" is a second-grade military system. Means: It´s not designed to directly harm someone. And besides, why not? Sure, it won´t be easy for me, but unless we try we won´t know for sure. I can go easy on you if you want." He said with a playful voice.

"Sanity isn´t your strength, is it? I refuse. You are here to "protect" us and not to battle with every student you want."

"Did Laura Bodwewig just refuse a battle?" He teased her. "Your comrades told me what a great pilot you were and now this? I have to say, I feel a bit betrayed."

"How do you know the members of Schwarzer Hase? They are a super-secret military unit. A filthy mercenary like you has no possible way of contacting them."

"Maybe you´re right." He replied sarcastically. "Apart from being the largest private military corporation on this planet and having reservists in every country of the world, there´s nothing we can do if we want to contact someone. On top of that we were stationed in Germany a few months ago. All I can say is: Confrontation with the local law enforcement is on the daily schedule. And since we´re mercenaries, the law enforcement had to … be replaced with the military."

Ichika could just frown at them while they were arguing. Normally he wouldn´t take any side, but in this matter he clearly had to support Laura. It was just foolish to challenge an IS pilot without having a personal IS. But the mercenary Lieutenant looked pretty confident and his statement seemed to have reached Laura´s mind as she sighed and continued to speak:" You´re a persistent guy. I have seen no one quite as suicidal as you."

"I can assure you that my Lieutenant is at perfect mental health."

They turned around to the source of the voice and saw the mercenary commander standing there. Laura just insisted on what she had said before.

"You´re all mad. He just asked me to battle him with my IS."

"I know." The commander replied emotionless.

"And he said he would go "easy" on me."

"I know." Was the emotionless reply.

"That´s just insane!" She almost shouted.

"We don´t think so." The commander said and smiled. "Listen, we´re regularly conducting Holographic Fighting Exercise before going on a mission and since we were tasked on protecting an academic facility from IS attacks our holographic opponents this time were IS. Believe it or not, our Lieutenant was able to defeat an IS and two WIS before getting knocked out."

"WIS?" Ichika interrupted. The commander looked at him and explained:" WIS is our codename for the thousands of IS units that are not fitted with an IS core. The full designation is Wannabe-Infinite-Stratos while our designation for the IS fitted with cores is Real-Dangerous-Infinite-Stratos or RDIS for short."

"Who created those designations?" Ichika muttered.

"That I can answer too. It was him." The commander said and pointed at the Lieutenant who raised his hands in a defensive manner.

"I can explain this. It basically went like this: a few years ago me and my comrades made some free-time-anti-IS exercises while some commanding officers decided to watch us without our consent." He said while looking at the commander. "Anyway, during the battle I decided to … let out some bad words. Our officers liked it so much that they introduced it as our official designation to make it easier to distinguish from between Core-IS and No-Core-IS. Against our will of course." He defended himself.

"Let´s get back to the topic. I can clearly remember some silver-haired girl claiming that she can defeat one of our best." The commander said. "I´ve enough light into the dark. Lieutenant, I think you can handle the situation from this point on."

"Yes, Sir." The mercenary saluted while the commander left the scene. He turned back to Laura who was looking at him with a rather suspicious expression. "I know what you want to say and I think it is justified, but the commander is one of the most honest persons you´ll ever find on this planet."

"I doubt that. You are mercenaries. I´m sure you know what kind of reputation you have throughout the world. But if your commander says the truth I would be very interested in how you managed to defeat an IS."

"I´ll tell you if you defeat me." He just said. "I think tomorrow after the lessons is an appropriate time."

She nodded and said:" That sounds good, but you have to learn your lesson. I suggest that the loser has to call the winner by her military rank and has to obey every command she gives him."

"You make it sound like you have already won. Well, how do we say in Germany? Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall." He laughed and urged Ichika to continue with the tour.

For the rest of the tour both he and Laura acted relatively peacefully towards each other. Laura sometimes threw angry glances at him and he just looked back. It wasn´t possible to figure out if he was throwing angry glances too because of his combat helmet, but Ichika was sure it wouldn´t escalate any further.

Indeed, the day remained non-violent and the mercenary showed great interest in social interaction with the students of the Academy. However, at around 2PM an announcement was made:" The mercenary forces have now gathered on the pier and by order of the principal all students have to gather there as well in order to receive information from their commanding officer. End of announcement."

The mercenaries were already there, all looking in different directions, some at the students, some at the Academy and some where even whispering but it all came to an end when the Commander stepped up to the middle-terrace of the staircase and shouted:" Attention!"

Immediately all eyes were laid upon him and he continued speaking: "I´m sure you all know why we are here. If not, you´re screwed. But let´s move on to a more important topic. While I was waiting on that lazy pack of yours I was asked some important questions. First off: Where are the mercenaries going to live during their stay at IS Academy? I think now you all know why to bring your camping gear: You´re all going to be stationed in Arena 5, no exceptions. Second: For how long will we stay? The contract phases out in two months but can be extended if needed. Third: Is it allowed to enter the ships during our stay? Nope, and no matter how desperate you beg, we won´t give you a tour. Fourth and last: How will the mercenaries provide security upon the facility? Now that the facility features one-hundred security forces more it´ll be possible to set up night guards in extremely tight shifts. We also will conduct training raids on the facility at random occasions to prepare the students for real surprise attacks. But in case any IS attacks the Academy for real we won´t be able to much. But that´s actually why we are here. In case Phantom Task decides to attack the Academy, we will create some little diversions to buy the teachers and students some time, so they can regroup and counterattack the enemy. If any of you have questions, ask those ten douchebags standing in front of this mess. At ease!"

The mercenaries´ formation immediately began to collapse, most of them making their way to the arena to set up their temporary shelters, but some of them stayed to have a chat with their comrades, including the mercenary lieutenant. After talking to one of his nine squad members he gave him his backpack and turned to Ichika and his friends.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Is your commander always talking like that?"

The Lieutenant chuckled. "It´s an old habit I would say. Some of our men tend to be reminded of who´s in power. We´re a mercenary organization. Many of our recruits where street kids when we recruited them. Our commander was working with such kids in one of our training facilities before he was transferred to active duty. He´s not talking much about it, but from what I´ve heard he doesn´t have good memories about his time.

"Yeah, that seems to explain it. But I noticed something else."

"What´s the matter?"

"You´re much smaller than your comrades, does this have any particular reason? You don't even sound that much like an adult. How old are you anyway?"

The Lieutenant froze for a moment and then slowly said: "While it is a very simple answer it may raise more questions than answer them."

Ichika was confused. "How comes that?"

"I'm actually just seventeen years old."

Now Ichika was confused even more.

The Lieutenant noticed and raised his hands. "It´s not like I had a choice or something." He sounded suspiciously defensive.

"It's alright." Ichika said. "We're not condemning you or your organization. Please, just tell me the story."

"I don't like to talk about it." The Lieutenant replied in a somewhat low voice. "Maybe another time. All I can say is that it was only partially my decision; I was also forced by the circumstances."

"What circumstances?" Laura blurted out.

"That´s a story for another time." He said but Laura didn´t let off of him. Suddenly he pointed into the air and shouted:" What´s this?" Everyone turned into the direction he pointed at, but there was nothing to be seen. So, they turned back around.

"Stay here, you little..." Laura shouted as she could see the Lieutenant running off into the direction of Arena 6.

Ichika could just laugh while watching this whole scene and Tatenashi began teasing Laura:" Looks like you´ve got a new boyfriend Laura." Her angry look only made everyone laugh even harder.


	3. Exercise

**WARNING: This story contains memes and badly translated German quotes.**

 **I do not own the rights to Infinite Stratos nor do I claim them in any way.**

* * *

A few days later

Laura was sitting in the classroom while talking to Ichika:" I find those mercenaries strange."

"What makes you say that?"

"I´ve been watching them since yesterday. They all seem to share their opinion about Germany but none of them seems to hold a grudge against me personally, except for that lieutenant. And have you ever heard the music they are listening to? It´s nothing I have ever heard anywhere."

She had been watching the mercenaries at any given opportunity and came to some rather unexpected conclusions.

They did not exactly behave as she had expected.

She had expected a lot if indecency from them. However, the mercenaries mostly kept to themselves and only engaged in conversations with other students if it was absolutely necessary.

Laura was ripped from her thoughts when Ichika responded her: "They sure have some strange rituals, like what they sung yesterday. But being suspicious of someone because of their personal taste is a … questionable action."

"I know, I know, but it´s unlike anything I've ever heard before."

"What´s so strange about that? Unlike you, these are experienced mercenaries who have travelled to every imaginable place on earth. They sure know some things we do not know."

Laura sighed "I guess you´re right. But I still don´t trust them. Maybe they want us to believe that they are friendly and generous. I´m sure they´ll stab us in our backs as soon as we begin to trust them."

"Why are you so prejudiced against them? They haven't done anything bad until now."

"Listen," Laura began there. "These people may carry guns and wear uniforms. They may follow orders given to them, but one thing is for certain: They were not raised as soldiers. They do not fight because they see it as their duty. They fight because of the money. Now imagine Phantom Task paying them a little "extra". They´ll switch sides in next to no time and then you´ll have a rifle pointed at your back before you know it."

His attitude made her extremely angry and she rather left the room than slapping him. She ran and ran until her muscles succumbed to the exhaustion and then sat down at a corner.

"Why has he always to be so dense about things like this? He has seven lovers and don't even notices the feelings of at least one? He isn´t even able to recognize a threat even if it´s right on front of him." She cried to herself. "Sometimes I don't even know why I love him." She continued. It went on like this for several minutes.

She sat there, silently crying as she suddenly heard German voices from around the corner.

"This is taking too long." A man grumbled.

"I agree." Another, audibly higher, voice replied.

Laura's eyes widened when she realized that it was the Lieutenant's voice.

"Someone's going to be killed if they don't show up soon." He said.

Laura peeked around the corner and saw the Lieutenant, leaning against a wall. The other one was still outside her line of sight.

"Like, who?" The mercenary asked and chuckled.

"I don't know." The Lieutenant replied. "Probably one of those fucking school girls."

There was a brief break between, then the Lieutenant continued.

"Honestly, some of them deserve nothing than death. If I could, I would just go and stab their eyes out."

He clenched his fist as he said those words out loud.

"It drives me crazy." He spoke again and Laura could clearly hear that he was gritting his teeth. "I wish I could just rip out all their tongues and silence those mendacious brats once and for all."

"Whoaa, hold on." The other mercenary interjected. "It can't be that bad."

At that, the Lieutenant broke into laughter.

From the way he was laughing, Laura could tell that he was laughing about his fellow mercenary. As if he had said something stupid without realizing it.

Only when he began to wheeze, he managed to get a hold of himself and slowly settled down.

Still chuckling, he finally replied to his comrade: "It's so bad, if I can't kill anyone else to make it better, I'd kill myself."

"Okay…" The mercenary slowly replied, his voice indicating that he didn't know what to reply.

The Lieutenant had noticed too and spoke in a comparatively soft voice: "I don't expect you to understand that."

"I'm glad you don't" The mercenary replied, sounding like he had just avoided the disaster of his lifetime."

The Lieutenant chuckled and lifted his arm, looking at his wrist watch.

"This is taking unusually long." He said. "Maybe we should go, check on the others."

"Understood." The mercenary said and Laura saw how the Lieutenant pushed himself away from the wall and walked away.

Laura needed a moment to get a hold of herself. She then stood up and went back to the classroom, going over what she had heard in precise detail on her way.

When she returned, she went straight to Ichika's desk, slammed her hands on it and looked Ichika firmly in the eye.

"L-Laura," He asked, slightly insecure. "Is there anything you want too…"

"Of course there is." She interrupted him. "That Lieutenant isn't right in his mind."

Ichika looked at her, first confused, then annoyed.

"What did he do now?" He asked.

Laura was one step from loosing it. Ichika wasn't even trying to listen. Did he honestly think that she was making this up?

No, he surely wasn't that dense.

Or was he?

"He was threatening to murder our students." Laura almost yelled at Ichika.

At this moment, however, the door opened and the Lieutenant entered with his squad of mercenaries. "Everyone listen up."

He didn´t wait until all attention was turned towards him. "The first training raid is about to take place. As with every battle there are certain rules we have to follow, so listen carefully. First off: during a training raid the mercenaries will be divided into two factions. One will try to overtake the major facilities like the command central and knock out as many students as possible. You can recognize these by the black star they´ll be wearing on their vests. The other faction will provide support to you. You can recognize these by the white star on their vests. What is also important is, that the number of friendly mercenaries will decrease over time and if you do well without support. At some point you´ll have to fight on your own. I also have to note that the use of lethal weapons is forbidden during the training for both the students as well as the mercenaries. People who are in possession of a personal IS are allowed to use every practicable technique but you are not allowed to use your weapons since we can´t regulate their deadliness. Now you will ask: Where the hell can we get non-lethal-weapons? Answer is easy: At this point we have established NLW-Terminals in every major area of the Academy. Don't worry about the mercenaries. Our weapons are loaded with non-lethal ammunition. I hope everything is clear so far because we are about to begin."

One of his soldiers left the room only to return seconds later with a big crate in his hands. He put it down and lifted the cover. Inside the crate were the non-lethal weapons he talked about before, together with holsters. Much to Laura´s disappointment there were only pistols. The Lieutenant handed everyone a gun and a holster and demonstrated how to put them on, while Laura noticed some of the mercenaries, nervously plucking at the stars on their vests.

As the Lieutenant was finished he stepped back in front of the class and said:" I´m sure you ask yourself now why we gave you those guns although there were terminals. I will answer this question in a second, but first are there any other questions?"

Ichika raised his hand:" Yes, Mister. Is it allowed to keep your gun?"

"Smart question, my boy. You are allowed to keep your gun during our stay, but as soon as we withdraw, you have to return your gun. You can get NL-Ammunition at any time from any of our men." He made a short break and Laura noticed how he switched off the security-lock on his gun.

His combat helmet didn´t let anyone see his mimics but Laura was sure his mouth had puckered into a smile.

He continued:" Now that there are no further questions, I´m gonna answer what I assumed you asked yourself before: Well, we gave you these guns because it would be a little bit unfair when the training raid begins which it does now." He and his men ripped the white stars off their chest revealing stars, black as the night.

The Lieutenant shouted:" On the ground, this is a goddamn ambush." But he didn´t took into consideration Laura´s quick response.

She jumped up and fired a quick number of shots.

He dodged the shots, meant to hit him, but some of his men were hit and fell to the ground.

His other men responded with firing randomly into the class, hitting many students which instantly fell to the ground.

The other students sought cover behind their desks and tried not to get hit while shooting at the mercenaries.

Laura hit another mercenary in the chest and then immediately slipped back into her cover. She saw Ichika on her right cowering behind his desk. He was looking at her as if he was trying to say:" Give me an order!" She peeked from her corner to localize the remaining mercenaries.

The Lieutenant had entrenched himself behind the teacher´s desk and was shooting students who weren´t able to react fast enough while his squad members had taken cover behind the first row of desks.

"Ichika!" She shouted. As the boy turned his head in her direction she continued:" Use your Partial Deployment and throw me into the front. I´ll use my HSP to deal with them."

He just nodded and deployed his IS-Arm. He then rushed forward, picking her up in the process. As they arrived at the other end of the classroom Ichika stood up and threw Laura into the direction of the mercenaries.

As she activated the Quick Response of her HSP, time began to move by more and more slowly until she could clearly see the bullets float through the air. She landed right before the teacher´s desk and took a look at the mercenaries who were still turning into her direction, before shooting them.

She then turned around to shoot the Lieutenant, but to her shock, he wasn´t there anymore. She was gazing around, when she noticed Ichika raising his hand to point at something that seemed to be above her.

She raised her head and directly looked into the face of the Lieutenant who had grabbed one of the lamps.

To her surprise he didn´t shoot her but just jumped out the window into the court.

She could just gaze at the window when the effects of the HSP began to wear off.

Ichika was meanwhile taking care of a student who seemed to have fallen and the rest of the gang had secured the door of the classroom and the corridors beyond it. At this point she noticed that only Ichika, his gang and some other students were left.

She knew they had to organize and launch a counterattack, since the teachers and the people who were guarding the major facilities were not able to hold out against an assault on that scale. Although she could notice some fighting through other windows it was obvious that the majority of the Black Stars, were trying to assault and capture the major facilities of the Academy.

They were trying to work out a plan when they suddenly got a call from the central tower. "This is CT, calling Class One, can you hear me?" It was unmistakable Chifuyu´s voice. Ichika immediately responded:" Affirmative, we can hear you. What´s the matter?" "We are under heavy attack by a mercenary force. If they claim the tower they´ll have access to all the surveillance cameras and will be able to coordinate their attacks more efficiently. You have to get here fast." "Understood."

On their way to the central tower they suddenly encountered a group of mercenaries, which the immediately rained fire upon. The mercenaries threw themselves on the ground and made no attempt to fire back, when suddenly a, group of students stepped up behind them. It was at this moment, they realized these were White Stars, and stopped firing.

As their lieutenant got up he immediately began to shout:" I know that all those mercenaries say: shoot first talk later, but you really don´t have to follow their examples."

Laura shouted back:" Where were you going to anyway?"

"We have received an emergency call from our commander. He´s currently at the cafeteria, involved in a battle with Black Stars. What´s on your schedule?"

"We are going to help, defend the central tower from a Black Star assault."

"Alright, good luck comrades." They parted ways and went to the elevator of the central tower. As they arrived they were greeted by gunfire.

Houki rushed forward, using her IS as a shield to scout out the enemy lines unhurt. She came back and reported:" We have four positions in the pattern of a chessboard, each with five men."

"We wouldn´t even get through that with throwing Laura, besides her HSP isn´t ready yet, so we´ll have to figure out something else."

Cecillia had a look on the ground and suddenly seemed to have an idea.

"The ground looks very smooth. We could try to slide over the ground. Although it isn´t very mannerly, it is the most effective way of dealing with our enemy."

"Well, I have to admit, although you seemed arrogant and decadent to me at first, you´re sure willing to learn from those who impress you. How many James Bond Movies have you watched until now?"

It was a voice all-too-well-known by them. As they turned around they saw the mercenary Lieutenant standing there, his rifle on his back, no sign of trying to attack.

"You are surprisingly calm for a person who´s about to be shot."

He just chuckled "Do you mind having a little chat before you shoot me? About James Bond and his ways?" They were just looking at him in confusion.

"Okay, sounds good to me." He said

"Wait, we didn´t give our consent." Laura interjected.

He made a step back. "Well that´s a pity. It would have been fun."

With these words said, he suddenly vanished.

They began looking around, hoping to spot him somewhere. "What the hell, was this?" Laura mumbled more to herself than to the others.

Despite this her question was answered:" Optical Camouflage. I can see you but you can´t see me, so I can strike you anytime I want." Came his voice from somewhere.

"That's pretty sneaky." Ichika answered.

"Well, that's how you win a fight nowadays. Little Laura is about to learn this, during our upcoming match this afternoon."

He chuckled once again and then added:" And if your tech-knowledge had been up-to-date, you would have also noticed that optical camouflage at this point only works if you don´t move." They turned around but only saw him disappearing around the corner.

"He sure is a strange person." Laura said after turning back to the group but Rin interrupted:" We don´t have time for this. We have to get to the central tower as soon as possible. Who knows how long the teachers can hold out without- wait, where the hell is Ichika?"

As they peeked around the corner leading to the central tower they could see a bunch of unconscious mercenaries lying around and Ichika waving at them.

When they got into the elevator, Laura took a glimpse at the mercenaries and asked Ichika:" When did that happen?"

"Well when the Lieutenant vanished I noticed a flashbang lying beneath my feet. Fortunately, it didn´t went off, so I decided to make the best of it."

For the rest of the ride no one said anything.

When they arrived in the command central the mercenaries there didn´t notice them as they were engaged in a firefight with Chifuyu and Miss Yamada

As Chifuyu noticed them she called out:" You sure took your time. Now help us deal with those guys!"

The Mercenaries turned around to see the person Chifuyu spoke to and immediately opened fire as they realized the threat they had to deal with.

They had to seek cover in order to not hit.

"Chifuyu!" Ichika shouted. "Why did you reveal us?"

"In order to do this. And it´s still Miss Orimura to you" She said after the gunfire had abruptly ended.

The mercenaries were so focused on shooting the students, they had forgotten about Miss Yamada and Chifuyu who were then able to deal quickly with them.

However, the silence was disrupted by Chifuyu "Took you long enough, Class One. How many of you are left?" "Only those you see here, Miss Orimura." "Alright, I´m going to check on our other operations." Chifuyu took out her communicator and said:" This is CT, Operation Cafeteria can you hear me? What´s the Status of our operation?" "CT, this OC we can hear you loud and clear. The Operation has been a success. All Black Stars are wiped out and the commander is secure."

Chifuyu closed her communicator and decided to check out the lists of other operations that were shown on the Holoscreen. Over time more and more Operations were confirmed to be a success but a remarkable number of squads also got wiped out during their Missions. Chifuyu explained that these were mostly students without any combat experience or mercenary-accompaniment. They also weren´t tasked with conducting any operations that were crucial to reclaiming the Academy. At some point the commander of the mercenaries came into the command central, accompanied by the squad they had met before. Chifuyu sent the other mercenaries out again to aid any missions that were about to fail and the commander sat down and began analyzing the combat footage.

Suddenly a loud beep echoed through the academy signalizing that all the Black Stars had been wiped out. The Commander stood up and shouted: "Alright everyone, lets head to Arena 6 to discuss the results."


	4. Duel

**WARNING: This story contains memes and badly translated German quotes.**

 **I do not own the rights to Infinite Stratos nor do I claim them in any way**

* * *

He was the last one of the Black Stars to be shot. His squad had already been wiped out in the beginning and Laura had used her Quick Response to try and make quick work of him. These circumstances had forced him to use his own in order to escape unharmed.

He later had tried to take the infirmary with the help of some other mercenaries, but the infirmary had too many defenders. His comrades were wiped out and he was able to barely escape. On his way to help capture the commander, he unexpectedly ran into Ichika and his gang.

After a little friendly chat with them and his escape, he had tried to wipe out any remaining students that were on their way alone but the last of them somehow managed to get him into a crossfire in which he was perforated with training bullets.

Now he was one his way to Arena 6 to check out the results. He didn´t had any other choice, presence at a briefing was obligatory for any of the mercenaries.

On his way to Arena 6 he encountered several students he had shot before as well one of his men. "Sir, how´s it going?" His anti-artillery-soldier greeted him.

"Got shot by a bunch of kids who don´t know a thing about weapons."

"Let´s rather talk about the good stuff. Like the entry we made. Was quite impressive, wasn´t it?"

"Well, it sure took them by surprise, but the outcome is what counts and that´s the point where you fucked up. You know, that the surprise moment is something that wears off over time. Plus, these are one of the best IS pilots in the world, so don´t underestimate them, or you´ll be wiped out when shit gets serious."

"I know you all will miss me."

"Don´t forget that you´re the one who knows how to handle AIS-bombs. I´m sure we´ll need that knowledge sometime in the future."

"You could talk to the Council about making AIS-bombs part of the schedule for any new recruit."

"I could try, but until now there hasn´t been a single experimental weapon to be made part of the recruit-schedule in all of our history. Before I went, the Council made it clear, that they want to keep it that way."

"But why? Wouldn´t it be smarter to know how to operate such weapons in case shit gets serious?"

"They said we simply haven´t enough data yet to construct a weapon that is secure and strong enough to protect us from those things. Besides, no one likes it if a soldier is dying while in the middle of his training."

"We could just give them replicas or something to train with."

"You know, the security isn´t even our biggest problem. It´s more the habit."

The soldier just looked at him.

"Maybe I´ll have to explain this easier: If you´re learning to operate a weapon that´s very dangerous to use you´ll have to follow a shit ton of instructions in order to not blow you and your comrades up. And if the weapon gets upgraded by the data you collect it may get safer to operate such a weapon, but you are still used to the old ways so you´re having trouble operating that weapon. Although the chance to blow yourself and your comrades up has been reduced, you´ll need more time getting the weapon to operate, `cause from the outside it´s still the same weapon but it works completely different. And you know there are some combat situations where every nanosecond counts. Got it?"

Another moment of silence.

"You see, the bombs and weapons in the AIS-category we are currently using are all labeled inefficient and dangerous to operate. They are merely a foundation. An aid to clear the way for weapons that are more efficient and safer to operate."

The anti-artillery soldier kept quiet for a moment and then said:" I think I know what you´re trying to say."

"Good, now that this matter is finished, let´s move on to the important things. Where´s the rest of the squad?"

"They went to Arena 5 but I insisted on searching for you, Sir."

"Talking of Arena 5: Here we are."

They entered through one of the side entrances, into the sandy arena, surrounded by stainless, white walls.

After a moment of looking around, they spotted the rest of their squad and immediately joined them.

It seemed they were some of the last since the commander was already standing in front of them, holding a loudspeaker and some combat footage in his hands.

A few minutes later, students and mercenaries were all present and the commander activated his loudspeaker.

"Thank you for listening, I will now announce the K.O.-Toll. This time the mercenaries were equally divided into 50 Whites and 50 Blacks. The Blacks "died" all, and from the Whites "died" about 21. That's very good for the beginning. Now for the students. For some reason we have no information about the exact student count but according to this graph about seventy-five percent of the students were wiped out in the process. Now to my opinion."

He made a short break. "In my opinion this was a very good start. It's very impressive that some of you managed to shoot those mercenaries even without IS. But if I was judging after mercenary standards this would be catastrophic. You know, good mercenaries are very difficult to get, so I would appreciate it very much if you would support them better next time. And before I forget, one of my higher-ranked men has offered to conduct some weapon exercise with the students. The exercise will be held unregularly to further test and increase your combat readiness. Thank you for your attention. You may now leave."

Most of the mercenaries were on the way to their assigned positions. Most of them were pissed off at the fact that they had to protect a facility full of girls, who weren´t even able to properly hold a pistol.

But they were mercenaries after all and if the price was right, they did whatever they were told to do.

A few hours after that he was squatting somewhere in the spectator area of Arena 5, waiting for Laura. From what he had heard she was very unlikely to forget about a match this important.

Some of the people threw weird gazes at him, most likely because of the way he was squatting. His legs were completely folded and his back was bent in a very unhealthy-looking angle.

He had learnt this way of squatting during his first series of missions in Russia and Eastern Europe. Although it seemed very unusual at first, he quickly discovered that it was a very efficient technique. This way he could get a rest in every type of environment with only his shoes getting dirty.

However, his thought-excurse ended when he spotted a certain silver-haired girl standing in the middle of Arena 5. By using the in-built binoculars of his helmet, he could see, that she had a rather unsatisfied look on her face.

"Well, it seems like it´s time to find out who´s the real boss." He thought to himself while standing up.

He used his favorite entry tactic: Jumping off the barrier of the spectator section and right into the arena.

The face Laura gave when she saw him, landing right in front of her, was quite impressive.

He reached out his hand to greet her as it was tradition in Germany (and most likely any other "civilized" part of the world) but she rejected it.

"Are you ready to show me true German Efficiency?"

"You can bet on that." She replied with a mixture of sigh and laugh. "I hope you´re familiar with the rules."

"Of course, I am, it´s not like I´ve done this never before."

"Wait, does this mean you have battled an IS before?"

"I´ll tell you if you defeat me. Besides I think this answer will become apparent as soon as the battle ends."

"Don´t forget our bet." She tried mocking him but he didn´t react and just drew his rifle.

Without saying another word, they changed into their battle poses and Laura activated her IS.

They then just nodded at each other and she immediately rushed forward while activating her beam sabers.

He chuckled and then jumped up in the air, evading her attack in the process.

He had a great field of shot from above her, took out his rifle and fired a few shots, just to piss her off.

From what he had heard an IS´s shield was impenetrable to any conventional weaponry and it required highly powered weapons like railguns or other IS`s weapons. But there had been several cases in which an IS´s shield had sunken to zero while using their weapons, so he had to find a way of making Laura reduce her shield energy to zero herself.

And even if it didn't work how he initially had planned, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

He got back on the ground only to get almost hit by a railgun bullet which struck the ground a few meters from him. According to intelligence her IS featured an Active Inertia Canceller which was capable of stopping any inbound melee attack. Furthermore, Schwarzer Regen featured two melee weapons. A beam saber, which could be extended from her arms and Wire-Guided-Daggers; basically, tentacles to grab your enemy.

It wouldn´t be as easy as the first time. On the one hand they were fighting in an Outdoor area so there were no ceilings he could grab on. On the other hand, there were no pieces of scrap metal lying around, behind which he could cower at least for a second.

He smiled: It was exactly the kind of challenge to put his way of fighting to the test.

She released her Wire-Guided-Daggers and landed a few meters from him. She managed to grab his leg and threw him into the air.

He just took out his Titanium-Knife and cut the rope before any of the other tentacles could grab him.

She had apparently tried to pull him back down, but now that she had lost her grip on him, he was just flying further into the air. She activated her Ignition Boost to chase after him.

He was constantly trying to figure out a way to deal with her when he suddenly remembered the physics lessons they had taken during the training. He knew that what he had learned could be put to use in a situation like this. He was already a hundred meters less-or-more in the air, so it wouldn´t be hard to realize that kind of attack.

He switched his rifle to Bullet-Tracing-Mode and fired all the shots left in his magazine right into the air. Then he switched to an IBAM-Magazine and fired all the rounds again.

At this point he noticed Laura approaching in her IS. "Here´s my ride back to the ground." He thought to himself.

As she reached out to pull him down, he grabbed her arm.

As she tried to remove him with her left arm he slammed an EMP-grenade into her arm.

The grenade immediately went off, preventing Laura from using her left arm so she began flying downwards in all kinds of weird maneuvers.

She tried to shake him off, but he didn´t let go until they were less than ten meters above the ground.

He landed safe on the ground and at this point began to feel how wild his heart had been pounding the whole time.

She landed only a few meters away from him and immediately began charging at him again.

While she was charging at him, his HUD had finally calculated the place the bullets would come down at. It was only a few meters behind him, so he jumped backwards.

She reacted exactly how he had predicted by trying to chase after him.

Now she exactly stood at the point where the holographic lines were hitting the ground.

He had only one more thing to do: He rushed forward and came to hold directly in front of her.

First she tried slice him in half with her beam saber but he just jumped aside and she hit the ground. He got back near her to prevent her from moving.

She suddenly extended her second tentacle and slung it around his neck, but it didn´t matter to him as long as it kept her in place.

Now she activated her beam saber and lifted it to deliver the final blow.

He realized that the bullets wouldn't hit her in time so he decided to create a little diversion:" Ichika seems pretty impressed … by your fighting skills, … Laura."

She suddenly blushed and began to turn her head around to find said person, lowering her saber in the process.

As she couldn´t find him she turned back to him and shouted:" Where is he?"

He pointed at the other end of the arena where a little crowd had gathered to watch their battle, mostly consisting of teachers, mercenaries and some curious students. To his surprise even the commander was there, along with some members of Ichika´s gang, but no Ichika.

She searched the crowd and then turned back to him, with an even angrier expression on her face than before.

He lifted his hands in a defensive position and coughed:" Just … kidding. It's not my … fault if you forget … about the fighting … style of your … enemy."

She raised her saber once again to deliver the final blow, but suddenly she was struck by something small but so powerful, it instantly halved her shield and threw her on the ground.

He fell to his knees and began coughing.

To his luck he got up before her and jumped to the side. Laura got up a few second after that and fired another railgun shot at him which he laughingly dodged.

She rushed into his direction, her beam saber still activated, and began to swing her sword through the air in hope to hit him. At one point he managed to grab onto her leg, took his knife and began to hit it as hard as he could.

After few moments his blade had completely bent and he threw it away using his mere hands instead to disassemble her IS. She just activated her other beam saber and tried to get him off. He was able to dodge a few attacks but he had to let go eventually because even the strongest arms get tired after some time.

He was thinking of a faster way to reduce her shield energy to zero but he got inattentive and as result got hit by her leg and found himself flying into the direction of the arena wall.

He crashed into the wall and fell to the ground, remaining there even as he heard the IS approaching.

With the last bit of his strength, he turned onto his back.

There she stood, towering above him and looking down at his motionless body.

"This fight has ended." She declared and turned around.

At that moment, a fire ignited inside him.

He hadn't come this far just to be humiliated by a one-sided declaration.

The heat in his chest began to disperse across his whole body and took control of his thoughts.

He reached for the short, metal stick on his belt.

Growling, he turned around and stood up, ignoring the pain in his limbs.

She stood with her back to him, obviously expecting something like applause from the crowd.

He pressed the small, red button on the stick and with a buzzing sound, the white-glowing blade extended.

By the time She had turned around and realized what was going on, he had already closed the distance between them.

He struck her with the sword and her shield barrier. began flashing violently.

She activated her boosters and jumped backwards.

"Do you still haven't enough?" She asked exasperated.

"This fight ends when I say so and not any sooner." He hissed at her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

He jumped at her with the sword in one hand, while simultaneously drawing his handgun and firing a few shots.

Somehow She managed to activate her Active Inertia Canceller before the bullets could hit her. Nonetheless he got what he wanted. He knew that it took much concentration to operate the AIC and if she wanted to attack him she had to deactivate it.

He ducked and slipped through between Laura's legs, at the same raising his sword.

All he felt was the recoil of the sword in his hand. He came to a halt only a few steps later. As She turned around, he could see that her cheeks had taken a shade of dark red.

At that, he had to laugh.

"Just so you know, it's your fault it even came so far."

He turned his body sideways and lifted the arm with the sword and pointed it at her.

It seemed like She had accepted the challenge, as she immediately swapped her AIC for the massive railgun on her shoulder.

A hasty backflip to the side was all that spared him from losing whatever body part she had aimed at.

"Is someone too afraid of coming close?" He mock-shouted at her and laughed.

Now he could see her gritting her teeth as she stowed away her railgun and deployed her beam sabers. Next, she charged at him and he only laughingly held up his sword. Her first beam saber clashed against his sword while the second strike came from the left.

He jumped up, his sword still held against the first beam saber and performed a barrel roll, evading the sideways strike and pushing away the first beam saber.

He landed on his feet, unharmed and quickly moved his blade forward, striking again between her legs. Quickly, he jumped backwards and enjoyed the embarrassed expression on her face.

The game continued for a while. She would strike at him and he would be able to evade all her attacks in an acrobatic manner, every time feeling like he would break his spine. At one point, her blade missed his face be mere millimeters.

He eventually decided that it took way too long. Another trick was needed. One that would let him win the battle.

He deactivated his sword and attached it to his belt. Then he pointed his arm at her, while simultaneously moving his fingers back and forth.

She tried to strike him again, but this time, he jumped up, grabbed onto one of her beam sabers with his hand and caught the other one with his boots. He then let a small crystal slide out of his sleeve and took it into his free hand. Before she could react, he had slammed the crystal into her shoulder and released her beam saber from his grip.

Immediately, she began waving her arm around, however, his boots were tightly locked to her other arm.

Finally, as she reached back, preparing to cause yet another throw-up experience, he released himself and landed on the ground behind her. He drew his sword once again, activated hit and stabbed her in the back.

Visibly infuriated, she tried to hit him, but he again dodged her attack and jumped out of her reach.

Both took their ready-for-attack stances, but suddenly, she froze and he as well noticed the rapidly dropping numbers near her cheek.

She looked irritated at first, but then was able to trace the energy loss back to the crystal stuck in her shoulder.

The crystal had begun glowing, indicating that it was overloading. However, there was a failsafe for that.

He watched with an satisfied smile under his helmet as she tried to remove the crystal from her shoulder. However, her robotic hands were simply too big.

At the same time, the area around the crystal began glowing too, but not in an bright white, but in a mere orange, indicating that it was being molten down by the heat the crystal was emitting.

She, apparently, had realized this too and now looked even more frantic while trying to remove the crystal.

Finally, she managed to trap it between two of her fingertips and pull it out. However, since the crystal was still emitting heat, her fingertips were being molten down as well so she had to throw it away.

He had to grit his teeth as he saw the crystal bouncing off the ground over and over until it stayed in the sand a few meters away from both of them. She was tougher than he had initially assumed.

"Wasn't your shield supposed to protect you from that kind of stuff?" He asked sneeringly.

She glared at him and gritted her teeth. He took this as a sign that her shield probably wouldn't last any longer. Smiling underneath his helmet, he took out two grenades and pulled the pins.

He threw them at her and watched as Laura sliced both of them in half. As soon as she did so, grey smoke began coming out of the halved spheres and enveloping her. Soon, there was nothing but a smoke cloud around. Now she would be blind.

He charged into the smoke at the spot where she had stood, but as he swung his sword, he hit nothing but empty space.

It was then that he realized what she was up to. However, it was already too late. From above she came, her arm stretched out and her hand opened. He barely had enough time to throw his hands into the air to prevent them from being caught between her fingers.

Now she had him. She raised her other hand, the beam saber glowing pink.

"Still want to fight?"

At that, he began chuckling. His chuckled eventually turned into laughter.

"Congratulations." He cried laughingly. "I can't run from you now."

Suddenly, the laugh died and he spoke in a dead-serious voice: "But I don't have to."

That unexpected transition startled her and then there was a loud bleep, indicating that her shield energy had been completely drained.

Her IS dissolved around her and both of them landed on the sandy ground of the arena. While he was smiling triumphantly under his helmet, she still had the same, shocked expression on her face, his sword lying next to her.

It was then that he noticed the crowd that had gathered during the last half of the fight.

It was mostly students but he also noticed some other mercenaries including the commander. They all looked like they were waiting for something to happen.

He turned around and bowed to them. Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched scream coming from behind him.

Turning around, he barely managed to dodge her knife. It missed him by a hair's length.

"What the…" He exclaimed, but she swung her knife at him again.

A quick jump backwards saved him from the worst.

"That's impossible." She yelled as she charged at him again. "You're a dirty cheat. Your victory is not real!"

Well, if this was how she wanted to play, he wouldn't stop her.

He drew his own knife and blocked the incoming strike from her. As the two blades clashed, sparks flew off into every direction.

They both took their distance again and prepared to lunge at each other.

"You know." He suddenly began. "It seems I have to change my opinion on you."

"How that?" She asked, still glaring at him.

"The fact that you're still attacking me although your invincible superweapon is gone shows that your courage is not entirely built upon it. I like that."

"Go to hell." She replied and charged at him.

He simply waited until she was close enough and then jumped aside while grabbing her wrist and pulling it behind her back.

He twisted it onto her back and as soon as she was close enough, put his knife at her throat.

"Look, the way I see it, this fight is over." He whispered into her ear. "Now put down your knife and nobody will suffer unnecessarily."

She snarled at him, but then, although somewhat reluctantly, let go of her weapon.

"Good girl." He whispered as he released her.

However, he wasn't quite done. Just as she was stumbling forward, he kicked her in the back and made her fall.

Making a dull sound, she hit the ground face-forward and unprepared.

"What was that for?" She hissed at him while he picked up his sword.

"Oy, listen." He began while walking over the spot where the crystal had been dropped. "Considering how you've treated me, this is nowhere near what you deserve. Now get out of my sight."

Laura stood up again, turned around and headed for the arena's exit.

Just as she arrived there, she heard him shout: "And don't forget about the bet, you little cheat."

* * *

Ichika sighed in relief as he felt the warm water of the pool all over his body.

Today had been exhausting. Not only because of the exercise held, but also because Chifuyu had given every student individual footage of them and tasked with identifying each one of their mistakes. This had claimed almost all of his mental capacity, but at least Chifuyu seemed to have been okay with his work.

After this, physically as well as mentally, exhausting day, all Ichika wanted was to have a rest and the boy's bath seemed the only appropriate place. After all, not even Tatenashi seemed bold enough to violate regulations by entering a boys-only area.

He sighed and relaxed his body as he leaned his neck against the edge of the pool when suddenly, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, Ichika."

Surprised, Ichika turned his head, but calmed down when he realized that it was only the Lieutenant.

"Hey…" He replied hesitantly. To be honest, he felt a bit embarrassed, exposing that much skin, even to another boy.

"Feeling uncomfortable?" The Lieutenant asked. "If it makes you feel better, I'll leave and come back once you're done, alright?"

He was about to turn around and leave but Ichika stopped him.

"No, no, no. I'm perfectly fine with you being here."

The Lieutenant looked at him for a moment and said:" Very well. If you say so."

He turned around and sat down next Ichika's head and began taking off his sandy boots.

"Man, I'm beat." He said, his voice only underlining his statement.

"Yeah, I've already heard of what you've done." Ichika replied.

"It would be kind of disappointing if you didn't." The Lieutenant said and chuckled.

He then fell silent again and for a brief period of time, none of them said anything until Ichika decided to break the ice.

"So…uh… aren't you gonna… hop in?" He asked carefully.

"Good idea." The Lieutenant said and stood up, picked up his boots and disappeared into the fog.

After a while, he returned, however, the sight of his body was obscured by the fog. He went around the pool and hopped in, at the opposite side from where Ichika was sitting.

After that, there was more silence. Ichika simply wasn't able to think of anything to say and the Lieutenant didn't seem to make the effort of carrying on the conversation.

After some more time, the Lieutenant suddenly asked: "Say, are you close to your sister?" He sounded much more human without his helmet.

"Well…" Ichika mused. "Chifuyu-nee hits me almost every time I say something… But she probably has her reasons. If it wasn't for me, her life would have been so much easier. I've caused nothing but troubles for her, ever since I entered the Academy. Nonetheless, I'm doing my best, trying to compensate for all of this, so Chifuyu-nee can take a day off if she needs to. That's the least I can do for her, after all."

For a moment, the Lieutenant didn't say anything, but then chuckled again and said: "That's how it is, huh? You're pretty lucky, you know? That of all people your sister would be the one teaching you. I'm pretty sure she requested this."

"But why? Am I not big enough of a hindrance for her already?"

The Lieutenant, in return, chuckled. "Is it so hard to see? You may be a hindrance, but one that has become an integral part of her life… And when looking at you in general, it's not that hard to see why."

"What do you mean?" Ichika was confused.

The Lieutenant chuckled again and then said: "Well, I may not be able to look into her mind, but I can think of some reasons anyone might like you in general."

A quick pause, then he spoke again.

"First of all: It's that face." He said quietly. "Always showing some kind of emotion, never devoid of any. It makes people feel lively."

Ichika didn't respond, but just kept staring at the veiled person in front of him. Something about the way the Lieutenant was talking seemed odd.

The Lieutenant continued:" Second is your personality. You may be an idiot, but you're also selfless and always trying to be positive. That makes up for all your stupidity. On top of that, you're hard-working, at least physically. That's a gladly-seen virtue almost everywhere and I'm not that far from imagining you as a mercenary of the White Star."

"What are you trying to say?" Ichika asked confused.

"I'm saying that your situation could be really worse, but you're on a good course, so keep it up. You'll be through this soon."

In this moment, Ichika didn't know what to say, so he took a look at the clock on one of the pillars.

His eyes widened when he realized that he had only about ten minutes left to get back to his room.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." He said, while hastily climbing out of the pool.

He went to the locker where he had put his clothes and, in next to no time, got dressed.

" No problem, Ichika." He heard the Lieutenant saying. " But do me a favor and turn off the lights. I rather like to bathe in the dark."

Head-shaking, Ichika fulfilled his request and didn't even bother thinking about it while he hurried on the way to Room 1025.


	5. Kidnapping

**WARNING: This story contains memes, stolen quotes and badly translated German quotes.**

* * *

M was on her way to the boy´s bath. It was already late so she didn´t had to worry about the students.

Now she was standing before the entrance of the boy´s bath when her communicator was ringing.

"Alright M, remember what I told you. You need to surprise him. Don't give him time to prepare. But don't hurt him too much, I want him intact."

"Got it."

When she entered the bath, she could hear the soft plashing of the water and followed the sound until she came to a swimming pool.

The air was hot and humid and the fog was all over the place, making it hard to see further than two meters. When the clouds where thinning she could see the pool. She stepped into its direction until she stood directly at the edge.

Her eyes narrowed. The pool was empty.

Suddenly, she felt how a gun was set against the back of her head.

"Raise your arms, Fräulein. And do it slow. It'd be a shame if I had to put a hole in that pretty face of yours."

M gritted her teeth and did as ordered.

"Good." She heard him say. "Now turn around. Slow as well."

She slowly turned around and looked right into the barrel of a handgun. It was being held up by a boy, clad in white uniform, his face completely covered by his helmet.

"What is a fine lady like you doing outside at such late hour?" He asked, simultaneously failing to hide the amusement in his voice.

M wanted to say something, but he pressed the gun against her forehead and said: "Did I say you could speak? Hm?"

When there was only silence as answer he snorted and continued: "That's what I thought."

She silently glared at him. He noticed and chuckled.

"You were looking for someone, weren't you?" He asked.

"Put down the gun." M demanded.

"And why should I do that?"

"Because if you don't, I will put more holes into your body than you can count before you die."

As she said that, six drones materialized around the boy, each one aimed at one vital spot of his body.

"Hm." The boy said before lowering his gun. "Looks like you've got me."

Without another word, M drew her taser and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"Good work." Squall said to M after she had dragged the boy into the interrogation chamber and cuffed him to the table.

Now both she and M were sitting at the kitchen table in the penthouse, each of them with a small plate of food.

Autumn had already eaten and, as far as Squall knew, had gone to her room.

At her remark, M didn't react and instead concentrated on consuming her food as fast and as quiet as possible.

"You know." Squall continued. "You might want to prepare mentally. We don't have much information, but the few mission reports we managed to steal from the White Star show that he's got a habit of brawling with his teammates."

M looked up, raising an eyebrow. Squall knew that look.

"No, I most definitely won't let the two of you start any rivalry. He might decide to run away, you know?"

"Then why won't you put a shock collar on him?" M asked quietly.

"We may have abducted him, but I still want to give him the chance to… adapt to his new situation. After all, he may be more inclined to stay."

"Do you really think so? It could work, but you need to give him a damn good reason to stay."

M finished her plate and stood up from the table, wanting to go to her room, but Squall stopped her.

"I need you to guard that door when I'm inside. Just in case things get out of hand."

M refrained from rolling her eyes, but nonetheless complied and sat down at the table again. Luckily, it didn't take Squall long to finish her meal and soon later she stood up and walked over to the door, M following right behind her.

While they journeyed through the corridors of the building, none of them said anything. Not in the elevator and not when they arrived at the lowest floor.

Finally, they entered one of the, optically inseparable, grey corridors. Squall led her to a door with reinforced glass.

She put her hand against a scanner on the wall and with a heavy sound, the door opened and Squall stepped into the small, gray chamber, while M took position next to the door.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was praying for something bad to happen to Squall while she was inside.

Only when the door had completely closed, Squall turned around to face the table with the boy sitting at it.

As she sat down in front of him, she could hear him snoring quietly. He obviously was still suffering from the effects of the taser.

She didn't know what he sounded like, let alone how he looked. She had heard his voice a few times on the reports stolen from the White Star, but she hadn't gotten a single look at his face. From his voice, she could conclude that he was at least under twenty-five years old.

She chuckled when certain, indecent thoughts began to make their way into her head. Good sex was something that was hard to get nowadays. Since the introduction of the IS, many males had gotten more cautious about people they met on the street or certain other places. They weren't as careless as they were before. But, if she managed to somehow convince him, she would have two persons to pleasure her in bed. She only had to make sure that Autumn didn't find out, otherwise… It was probably better not to think about it.

She couldn't help but wiggle her body when thinking what she would do to him. There was only one problem. Whenever she was imagining him, she had that stupid helmet in mind. She needed to know what his face looked like.

She reached out with her hands, trying to get a hold of his helmet, but when she had almost reached it, his hands shot up and grabbed her wrists.

She yanked backwards, but his firm grip held her wrists in place.

"Don't." He spoke, clear, slow and loud.

It was at this moment, when she realized that he had to have been awake the whole time.

"In case you're asking yourself how long I've been awake." He suddenly spoke. "I woke up around the time your accomplice dragged me through that goddamn apartment door."

He let go of her hands and put his own back on the table, next to the broken cuffs.

"Anyway." He continued. "I take it you're the one responsible for my kidnapping." He spoke the last word a bit slower and moved his fingers in a fitting manner.

"I sincerely apologize." Squall replied. "But it seemed like the only way since we didn't know if you would come with us on your own."

"Aw, come on." He spoke and slightly tilted his head. "It's not nice to assume that without proper knowledge of me. All you would've had to do was ask nicely and I would've at least considered the idea."

"Are you trying to make me feel bad or what?" Squall asked chuckling.

"No." The boy replied serious. "I'm simply telling you how things are. If you are nice to me, I'll be nice to you."

"Really? Your behavior towards Laura Bodewig says otherwise." Squall countered.

The boy stretched out his arm and raised his index finger.

"That's a different story." He said. "She's an asshole. On the contrary, I don't even know who you are, therefore, I have no reason to act the same way towards you as I act towards her."

"Sounds reasonable." Squall mumbled under her breath.

"Phh, of course it does. Otherwise I wouldn't say it, would I?"

"Well, when looking at the things you've done so far, reasonable is the last thing that comes to mind." Squall replied.

"What are y-…" He stopped mid-sentence, his finger raised, apparently realizing what she was talking about. "Well, if you put it that way, I am not reasonable, not in the slightest bit. However, you should never judge a book by its cover. You know how the duel ended, don't you?"

"Yes, I do know that. That's the reason we abducted you in the first place."

"Yeah…" He replied slowly. "That aside, I surely wouldn't have fought her if I hadn't been sure about my victory. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." Squall replied slowly.

Suddenly, the boy froze and then, slowly stood up. He bent over the table until his head was only inches away from Squall's.

"What are you…" She asked but he cut her off.

"Shh, I'm not going to try anything nasty. I promise. I just wanna have a closer look at your face."

Squall gave an imperceptible nod, but secretly prepared to deploy her IS, should he try something.

Suddenly, he pulled away and sat back down on his chair.

"No." He muttered.

"What no?" Squall asked confused.

"I thought I've seen this face somewhere before, but it turned out I was wrong." The boy explained to her.

"Then let's get back on track." Squall said. "I think I don't have to explain another time why we kidnapped you."

"No, you don't." He replied. "However, I'm afraid that this'll have to wait for an indefinite amount of time."

She chuckled.

"You're not serious, are you?" She asked, hoping that it was just a tasteless joke.

"Okay, I think I'll have to explain that a bit further: Basically, I'm not against you guys taking me in, however, there's still some things I have to do before I join."

"You know." Squall said. "We kidnapped you because we want to keep you here. If you want to run away, it'll be hard."

"The fact that I've been kidnapped only fuels my desire to run away. However, if you guys let me do my job, I'll come with you voluntarily the next time we meet."

"Really?" Squall raised an eyebrow. "Mind telling me what you have planned?"

"I don't mind." He replied. "Look, the White Star has been making a lot of enemies over the last decades. If our commanders keep it up like that, and I'm pretty sure they will, they won't stand a chance. Therefore, I'm looking for a chance to bail out as soon as possible. However, I want to leave as discreetly as possible so that the least amount of persons realize that I'm gone. Right now, I can't do that and I need more time to make it work."

"You know that there's the possibility you might just slip away when I'm letting you go, right?" Squall asked.

The boy sighed and replied: "Okay, look. If I wouldn't want to be here, I would've been gone a long time ago. The only reason that I'm still here is that you've been offering me something I've been looking for since quite some time. But I'm not going to let this be a one-sided deal. Everything has its price, after all."

Squall didn't reply immediately but instead made herself aware in regards to what exactly was going on. She was sitting in the same room with a young boy who had single-handedly fought and won against an IS. No wait… Maybe fought wasn't the right word… More like toyed. It was clear that he could pose a legitimate threat to her. She regretted thinking that cuffs would have been enough to secure him.

"Alright." She sighed. "What are your terms?"

"My terms are that you'll let me off for an indefinite amount of time until I say that it's safe to take me in. Did I make myself clear?" He sounded seriously annoyed.

"That's a brazen request, you know? If I don't have insurance that you'll come back, I won't let you off."

"If you knew what kind of person I am, you would know that I keep my promises most of the time and as a sign of my good will, I'll give you this."

He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a small, blue-stained glass panel and handed it to Squall.

"What is that?" She asked.

"My insurance." He replied. "Keep it near you, probably squish it between your breasts or something, I'm sure you'll notice when the time has come. Now, do you have any more questions or complaints?"

"I still don't trust you." Squall said.

"And you're doing good with that." The boy replied and stood up. "Now get me the fuck out of here. When the commander finds out I'm missing, hell will break loose and I'll smash your skull."

Squall nodded and stood up as well. She walked over to the door and put her hand on the scanner.

The door opened again and they boy slipped through, Squall following behind him.

He walked past M, who immediately deployed her IS's rifle.

"Don't worry." Squall calmed her as she put a hand on her rifle. "He'll be back…" When she saw where he was heading, she raised her voice and said: "The exit is the other way"

"I… uh… I knew that. I just wanted to see what was over there."

Squall chuckled and put a hand on M's shoulder.

"Be a good girl and show our guest the exit."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" M asked, growling.

"I've still got some work to attend to, so please do me the favor."

M suppressed a sigh and nodded. "Just go away already."

"Very well." Squall smirked and turned around.

Before she left completely however, she turned around once more and said: "The next time I want to see you is in bed, alright?"

"Yes." M replied quietly and nodded.

She waited until Squall had disappeared around the corner and then turned around.

"This way." She said to the boy, avoiding eye contact.

The silence was kind of awkward. Behind her walked the person she had shot a taser at. If he was still mad, he could attack her at any moment. She had to turn her head inconspicuously to be able to spy at him from the corner of her eye.

Whenever she caught a glimpse of him, he was looking around, at the things that were surrounding them.

After some time, he suddenly asked: "How did you end up in this shithole?"

"Coincidence." M replied curtly without turning around.

"You have my condolences."

M snorted.

"Your condolences." She muttered under her breath.

"Yes, of course." He said. "I can imagine you're not really happy with your current situation."

"What do you know?" She hissed, ignoring the fact that he shouldn't have heard what she had said a moment before.

"Oh, I know some things." He replied smugly. "Then again, probably not enough, so I'll shut up now."

"It's about time." M thought.

For the next few minutes, she had her silence, but then the boy decided that he hadn't pushed her to her limits yet.

"Say." He began and M was already gritting her teeth. "You're thinking about killing me, aren't you?"

Her expression of utmost anger turned into one of surprise.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Everyone who's met me has gotten this thought so far. Only difference was the point of time."

"And when looking at you, I immediately know why." M replied, hoping he would shut up. He just chuckled.

To her relief, he remained silent after that.

The rest of the journey went by fairly uneventful and soon they both stood in front of the skyscraper.

"Thanks for escorting me." The boy said. "I look forward to seeing you again."

M snorted and said: " Neither do I." To which the boy responded with a chuckle.

"Whatever." He said, turned around and went his way.

M snorted again and turned around as well, heading back inside.

As the boy was walking away from the tall building, he silently began humming the melody of a song. A song about death and destruction, honor and duty.


	6. Revenant

**WARNING: This story contains, memes, stolen quotes and badly translated German ones.**

* * *

The day after

The mercenaries had been among them now for a few days and contrary to Laura´s fears there hadn´t been any incidents.

It was about 2PM and the sun was already standing low in the sky.

Tatenashi was on her way to Arena 5 where the next shooting exercise would be held in a few minutes. She was searching for the Lieutenant.

After his stunning victory the day before, she had immediately reported to the other members of the Sarashiki Family and asked for advice. It took only took a few days to get enough responses despite her brothers, sisters and cousins being busy in all parts of the world. They truly were shocked by the fact that someone managed to defeat an IS without having one himself. Some of them even offered to quit their current jobs and help her keep the information within the Academy. She accepted their offers gratefully as she was not sure if she and Kanzashi could solve the problem alone. Her younger brother, Hoseok, who had been working at an Cyber Security Center in the United Republic of Korea until now, had scheduled his arrival for this afternoon. He was one of the most talented hackers and analysts of the family and as she knew him would immediately begin to analyze the battle once he had arrived

But until that happened she had decided to try and find out some of the secrets the Lieutenant was keeping. From some of the other mercenaries she had learned that it was his turn today to host the daily shooting exercise.

Because of the cold weather she had decided to wear one of the Academy´s scarfs. It was just a piece of white cloth, slung around her neck but better than nothing to protect her from the cold.

She entered Arena 5 through one of the pedestrian entrances and took a look around when she heard a familiar voice.

"Good afternoon, Miss Sarashiki." The voice was coming a little bit from above. When she turned around she saw the Lieutenant sitting on top of one of the arena lights.

She turned around and replied:" You too. What are you doing up there?"

"Just enjoying the awesome view before my life becomes hell once again."

He pointed to a group of students standing near the wall at the opposite end of the arena.

"See those? These are the students that have decided to take some extra shooting exercise and I am the one who is going to teach them. I don´t have experience myself but from what I heard, girls tend to ignore superiors of any kind if they are the same age as them."

Tatenashi looked at him in suspicion. He returned the look for a few moments before laughing and saying:" Okay, that was a lie. Although there have been cases of said matter my problem is another. Most of my men say it´s because I´m in the middle of puberty right now and I don´t have any experience with them. I tell you, don´t believe a word of what they say. It´s something completely different."

He clapped his hands. "But that´s not of any further importance. I´m about to host today´s shooting exercise and I wondered if you´d like to participate."

She was startled by his offer. One the one hand she didn´t see a reason why he would do something like this and this was mostly a bad sign. On the other hand it would make it easier to unveil his secrets which was her initial goal.

"I´m very busy right now, but if you give me a good reason I might convince myself to join in."

"During our stay it´s our duty to prepare the students as good as possible for the upcoming training raids as well as the real ones. Though you already seem very well-trained in both IS and unarmed combat it wouldn´t harm to take some lessons in ranged combat. The Academy is already negotiating with the Trading Council of the White Star in order to get a hold of some of our rifles and IBAM-Bullets which I used to defeat Laura. At this point it looks very good for the Academy. Through taking some shooting exercise now you could save the time for when the rifles are in Academy hands and all the students have to learn how to handle them."

"I am convinced." She said and didn´t let him notice that she had knew what he was trying to do.

"Alright." He said, while jumping off the light and landing on his feet. "You can join the other girls now. I´m just gonna go and get some training materials. ´Till then."

She looked after him while he was running of into the direction of the tents before vanishing between the many mercenaries that were around in the little tent village.

She before making her way to the place the Lieutenant had pointed to before.

Midway her cellphone rang. When she took a look she noticed that it wasn´t a contact which was in her directory.

"Who is it?" She asked quite bluntly.

"It´s good to hear your voice too, Tats." Hoseok answered with a trace of amusement in his voice. "I just wanted to have you know that I have arrived at Tokyo International and am on my way to the Academy. I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is: The traffic on my way to the IS Academy is terrible so I won´t be arriving before midnight. The good news is: It seems that no one has gotten wind of what happened a few days before. I´m hurrying so we can make sure it stays that way."

"Alright. I´ll see you then." She answered back and put away her phone.

When she arrived at the little shooting range, she could see a number of other girls including Rin, Houki and Laura.

She greeted them as she arrived and they began conversating over all kinds of things. At some point they began talking over the upcoming exercise.

"So, Houki, why did you join today´s exercise?" She asked her.

"I was just thinking a little extra training wouldn´t be bad in case I ever ain´t able to use my IS."

"Mh-hm So, Rin what´s your reason?"

"Same as Houki, extra training is never bad."

"I see. Now it´s your turn Laura. I bet you´re only here because you hope to see Ichika."

Laura blushed when she heard this, but got a hold of herself and continued:" I´m here for two reasons. That asshole made use of the bet and wants me to show you how to operate the weapon of today´s exercise. Second: Have you ever seen the weapons they are using? They do not appear in any national or international database and they still claim these weapons to be one of the best. Everyone who has been trying to capture on of these has been either killed or disappeared. Although the White Star takes credit of the murders, they say that it was absolutely justified, because the people who tried researching their weapons got a hold of them through murder or illegal activity. Now I want to find out what´s so important about these weapons."

To Houki it all seemed a little bit too much and she tried to desperately change the topic when the Lieutenant stepped up in front of them.

Some of the girls noticed him and got silent, but most of them just continued talking.

He put down the carton and the backpack and opened both, revealing the tip of something that looked like an assault rifle.

He stepped in front of the crowd and shouted:" Attention everyone!"

Immediately all attention was turned towards him.

He continued speaking:" I´m not going to introduce myself, because news are spreading almost as fast as a bullet in this Academy. To make it short and simple: I´m your instructor and today´s lesson is about the ATAF-AR-G1. AR stands for Assault-Rifle and G-1 for Generation 1." He turned around and took one of the rifles.

He held it high in the air, for everyone to see. "First, I´m gonna tell you a little bit about the rifles origins and history of which it has seen about three years. After that Miss Bodewig and I will show you how to operate it. The first prototype of the rifle was manufactured by Heckler&Koch, a weapon-production company located in Germany. It was a super-secret project back then. However, the prototype was rendered useless and sold to a weapons collector for about 218.000 Yen. It remained in his possession until he was robbed by a group of weapon-loving teenagers. They, however were attacked and killed by a group of mercenaries. One of the mercenaries was an ambitioned engineer and saw high potential in the weapon. A few days and several kilos of engineering equipment later, the White Star had its new favorite assault-rifle. Now take yourself a rifle and get into position."

He stepped aside and the students immediately, equipped themselves with the weapons he had brought. Laura stayed in front and had to hold the rifle into the air.

As they got into line he began to talk:" See that little switch near the barrel. Lift it a little bit up and turn it in a 180-degree angle and try to fire at the targets standing behind me."

"Shouldn´t you step out of line before we begin to shoot?" Some student asked him but he just replied:" These weapons are loaded with training ammunition. The worst it´ll do is knock me out. But I don't think your aiming skills are that bad."

Laura did as she and the others were told. She needed a moment to locate the switch but then she turned it.

Suddenly the Lieutenant whispered something in her ear. Laura flinched a little bit but no one except for Tatenashi noticed it. She also saw how Laura´s hand pushed a second trigger that was across from the fire trigger.

Tatenashi pushed both triggers and accidentally hit one of the students in front of her when the gun went off.

The girl fell to the ground, face forward, obviously knocked out while all the other students threw confused, partially shocked, gazes at Tatenashi and her victim.

The Lieutenant noticed the little accident and came to inspect the scene.

"It seems I have overestimated your abilities of…"

He abruptly stopped when he noticed the little burn trace on the back of the student turning red and a little river of blood made its way into the sun from underneath the student´s chest.

He knelt down beside the girl and turned her around. Everyone who was observing the scene was gasping when they saw the blood-stained front site of the girl.

Now everyone was either looking at the girl or Tatenashi. It didn´t took long for all the students to gather around her and shouting, either at her or their fellow students.

She didn´t pay attention to them neither did she as the Lieutenant shouted from behind, knowing that the girls would ignore him;" You´re doing good. keep them distracted so I can treat the girl. This involves doing some things I don´t want to be seen doing, so It´d be great if you could help me out at this point."

While the Lieutenant was treating the wounded girl the other students were shouting questions at Tatenashi, some of them sounding very hard to answer but in the end the core sentence was "Why did you do this?".

She resisted the massive pressure of being shouted on from all sides for quite a long time but eventually she gave in an replied:" I never wanted this. I don´t even know what´s going on right now."

The shouting stopped when someone from outside the crowd shouted:" SHUT UP, EVERYONE."

The harsh voice of Chifuyu let the chatter die immediately and all the students turned their attention towards said person.

Chifuyu walked through the crowd and came to hold right in front of Tatenashi.

"Sarashiki. Do you mind to explain what´s going on?"

She looked up into her face and wanted to say something before she was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Tatenashi has nothing to do with that. It´s my fault and mine alone."

"I´m listening."

The Lieutenant looked to the ground like a little school boy that had done something wrong and was now condemned for it.

"I forgot to check the rifles before we began with the exercise. These rifles were borrowed from some of our men and I should have checked them for lethal ammunition. I´m sorry."

"Well, you should be because judging from how it looks here the student will meet a very unpleasant end."

"Maybe she will, but I´m pretty sure that the first aid I´ve delivered just now will increase her chances of survival."

He stepped aside to reveal the student lying on the ground, her top beside her and her chest wrapped in tight bandages without any blood trying to make its way out of the body.

Chifuyu looked at the student for a moment before turning back to the Lieutenant.

"I see. You have acted appropriate and according to the circumstances. Nonetheless, you are forbidden from hosting any shooting exercise from now on. You are just too clumsy."

"I´ll keep my hands off things like this for the time coming. Your expectations will be met."

He was distracted by a sudden phone call. He took out the phone and didn´t bother to talk to whatever person was on the other side in front of all the students in German.

"Hey, wie geht's dir? Gut, hoffe ich, denn sobald ich hier weg bin kannst du was erleben… Nix aber, ich hab dir doch gesagt du sollst mich innerhalb der nächsten zwei Monate nicht anrufen…"

His voice changed its tone from pissed to surprised-serious and he turned away from the students. Whatever the other person had told him seemed to be serious.

"Das ist natürlich ein Problem. Wie viele Verluste?... Beunruhigend. Wo wurde sie zuletzt gesehen?... Lass mich kurz nachsehen."

He activated a holographical map on his wrist and swept over the map in search for something. He seemed to have found it and closed the map.

"Timur und seine Einheit sind gerade dort unterwegs, soll ich ihn informieren?... Alles klar, hoffen wir, dass es gut ausgeht… Bis dann, Genosse."

As he put away his cellphone he saw himself confronted with the curious gazes of the students and Tatenashi.

"Ahem, I´m sorry but there has been a little incident that requires my immediate attention."

He ran off into the direction of the dormitories and Tatenashi was about to follow him when Chifuyu grabbed her shoulder.

"And what do you think are you doing, student?"

"This just now?" She pointed at the student who was carried away by a nurse. "This wasn´t an accident. I have to know what he´s up to before things get worse."

Chifuyu looked at her for a moment before nodding and releasing her grip from Tatenashi´s shoulder.

"Espionage can be penalized with several years of prison or a massive fine for your legal guardian. You better not screw this up."

She smiled before she went off into the direction she assumed the Lieutenant had taken.

She found him leaning against one of the dormitories´ walls and dialing a number.

He didn´t notice her so she moved into a nearby meadow and crept until she came to a wall corner right next to him.

From around the corner she could hear him talking to someone in Russian which made understanding him a minor problem.

"Hey Timur. How are you?... Why I'm calling? Long story short: Lars and his men did some shit in Berlin and now some dangerous individual is on the run. She was last seen in Wernigerode and now she´s probably on her way to Harz Military Base… Of course it´s going to be a tight situation but I trust that you and your men can intercept her in time. Oh, and try to take her out as quick as possible. She may not be able to fly anymore with her RDIS but the rest of her weapon systems are just fine… You just lure her deep into the Harz and ambush her. If this doesn´t work you just threaten to kill all civilians in the Harz if she reveals any information about Operation LV… A backup plan? I´m listening… You´re surprising me every time when we talk to each other. I trust you can assemble the device out of the scrap that´s lying around?... Well then, me and my boys, we´ll be coming to Germany too. I've got some business to do… You too. Until then."

He put away his cellphone and for a moment she could clearly hear his heavy breath before he raised his voice in Japanese:" You can come out now."

For the moment she didn´t knew what she had to do.

"Come on. Don´t be afraid. I won't hurt you." He said with a soft voice.

Hesitating she made her way around the corner only to look right into his face.

He chuckled as he gently grasped her chin.

"You think you´re one of the smart ones, don´t you? I have to admit in some cases it´s true but there are some things you should keep out of. The White Star is operating for the world´s future and for that we need some things to stay hidden. I think we can overlook this little… incident under one condition."

She pushed away his hand before replying:" I don´t think we can cooperate after what happened."

He stepped back and said chuckling:" In this case… I´ll have to kill you. I never really cared about secrecy but you have heard definitely too much."

He drew his knife and shifted into a battle pose while Tatenashi simply stood there with her folded fan.

He charged at her but she was able to knock the knife out of his hand before it reached her and now her fan was right underneath his head blocking any way to look downwards.

He let out something that sounded like a mixture of snarl and laugh.

"And I thought this day couldn't get more interesting. You're forcing me to do this so don't complain about it."

With that a metal blade extended from his wrist and cut the fan in two, coming to hold right in front of her right eye.

She didn´t let him see any trace of fear in her face but she knew that one wrong move could end her life.

To her surprise he just moved his blade out of her face and stepped back again.

"I have… reconsidered my choice. I won´t kill you, as this would only further complicate matters. But if one word of this conversation leaves your mouth while we are here then…"

He made a short break.

"...May god have mercy in your soul."

He turned around and was about to go, but Tatenashi grabbed his wrist where the blade was still extended.

She pulled him back and took a closer look at the blade. He didn´t complain.

It was made from a see-through material, likely diamond and was formed like a cutter.

However, the most interesting part was the symbol in engraved in the lower half of the blade. It was a 霜.

She wasn´t unfamiliar with this symbol. She had seen it before. The night in which her parents had been murdered and she became head of the Sarashiki Family, to be exact.

She was ripped from her thoughts when the Lieutenant began to laugh and retracted his blade.

"I thought you´d never notice it, Katana." He taunted her.

"How do you know my name? No one outside the Sarashiki Family is supposed to know it." She was seemingly shocked.

"I have known you before you became Tatenashi. You were such a cute girl back then. It´s a shame what became of you."

"Just who are you?" She demanded an answer, though she could already imagine who she was talking to.

He just continued laughing and replied:" I have many names: Camouflage, Soldier of Three Armies. There´s one that fits for each situation I have been in."

He noticed the clueless expression on Tatenashi´s face.

Nonetheless, I think there´s one that will ring some bells within you."

"Is it … Shimo?" She hesitantly asked.

He laughed as he pulled back his arm. "Looks like we got a real talent here."

"No, that's not possible." She began to stutter.

A moment later, she lost it and shouted at him with all her might.

"I KILLED YOU!"

Her face was now one filled with anger and shock.

Suddenly all the amusement was gone from his voice and he just breathed normal before saying: "I've been shot, stabbed, incapacitated, crippled and mutilated. Do you really think a loose shot could do what the most furious terrorists, the best-trained killers and most decorated soldiers couldn´t do in eighteen years? You got some nerve."

With that her whole body was electrified and she fell to the ground.

The Lieutenant knelt down to let a little metal scorpion with a sparkling spike on his tail crawl onto his arm.

He petted the scorpion before whispering:" Du bist ein Genie, Lars. Ich denke du bist deinem Gegenstück kein bisschen unterlegen. Hoffen wir nur mal, dass du nicht so endest wie sie."

With that her vision went black.


	7. Pursuit

**WARNING: This story contains stolen quotes, memes and badly translated German quotes.**

* * *

Ichika was on his way to the cafeteria.

After today's events the only thing he was looking for was rest.

Although the injured student would be able to make it some students still were shocked about the sudden turn of events.

When he entered he could see the Lieutenant sitting at one of the tables in the corner. He was looking directly at the ceiling.

After he got his food he decided to sit down next to the Lieutenant.

When he sat down next to him he expected a cheeky greeting but nothing happened.

It took him a while to realize that the Lieutenant was actually sleeping.

However a light blow into his side put an end to the sweet dreams.

The Lieutenant flinched and his NVG´s slipped off their position and onto his eyes.

"Oh, Hi Ichika. Say, since when do the lamps emit green light?" He asked obviously having no idea what was going on.

At that Ichika had to chuckle making the Lieutenant realize the situation.

He put his NVGs back up so that now only his HDGs prevented Ichika from having a look at his eyes.

"So, what makes you take a nap in our beautiful cafeteria?"

"I didn´t catch much sleep a few days ago and since then haven´t gotten any chances to catch up with my sleeping cycle´s requirements. So, when I came into this cafeteria two hours ago I decided to take a short nap."

After a quick look on the entrance he added:" Though the most painful thing can be waking up sometimes."

Ichika looked into the same direction and saw Laura approaching at the same speed when she was usually trying to attack someone.

She slammed her hands on the table but before she could say anything the Lieutenant raised his voice.

"You´re wrong. And no matter how much you´ll protest I´ll keep insisting on my version of the story."

Laura looked at him in confusion before replying:" You don´t even know what I wanted to say."

"Well, what did you want to say then? Judging from your facial expression and gestures you were about to rant at me for "trying to murder the student"."

At that Laura fell silent and sat down next to Ichika while still retaining an furious expression on her face.

While Ichika was eating his soup, Laura and the Lieutenant were exchanging angry glares, though he couldn´t tell if the latter was really glaring underneath his helmet or just looking back.

After he had finished eating he made his way back to Room 1025 in order to catch some sleep.

When he opened the door he was greeted by a dark interior and no Tatenashi lying on the bed and begging him to do perverted things to her.

He sighed in relief and hopped into the shower hoping that he would be able to fall asleep before Tatenashi came back.

When he came out of the shower Tatenashi still wasn´t back and so he slipped beneath his blanket and almost immediately fell asleep.

It wasn´t for long that he could enjoy the sweetness of sleep, because at around 1 AM he was awoken by his older sister and told to meet her in Arena 5.

It took him a few minutes to even realize his situation before he hastily got dressed and made his way to Arena 5.

It was a cold night and when he arrived in Arena 5 he could see all the other girls except for Tatenashi.

Chifuyu was staning in front of them and, as soon as he joined his friends, raised her voice:" Can you hear anything strange, students?"

"No, Instructor. There´s no one here." Laura replied.

"Well observed Miss Bodewig. Yesterday evening this Arena was filled with tents but now it´s just us. On top of that, Tatenashi went missing. It´s pretty unlikely that she has decided to take a nap somewhere in the meadows of the Academy. Combining this with the fact that our mercenary friends have decided to run for it, they have most likely abducted her. Your orders are to search for the mercenary ship and demand our student as well as the money they have taken with them."

"Got it." They all replied and immediately deployed their suits and ascended into the night sky.

Ichika came to hold a few kilometers in the sky and looked around. Tonight there were absolutely no clouds and the pale moonlight was illuminating the area.

He looked down to see the IS Academy, that had been built on the soil of Oshima Island.

A little further to the east he could see the lights of the city Sasebo, it's houses and streets squeezed in between the mountains.

He raised his head, gazing to the northwest at the gap between the large islands of Nakadori and Hirado.

He was not able to spot anything there, however a bit further out on the ocean he could see the lights of something that looked like a cruise ship.

He used his IS's ability to further zoom in and, as a matter of fact, spotted the mercenary ship.

It didn´t take long before they had reached the ship and Ichika shouted:" Stop that ship right there."

The answer was silence. As he took a closer look he noticed that no one was on deck.

He tried to land on the ship but as he touched the ground the ship began to flicker and he just slipped through the ground and fell into the icy water.

"What the hell?"

"This is just a hologram. We need to get back to the Academy quick."

No one had noticed Tatenashi approaching in her IS.

"Tatenashi, where the hell did they dig you out?" He asked as he noticed that her face was full of dirt.

"There´s no time to explain. We need to head back to the Academy and inform Miss Orimura." Was the casual answer.

After they had rushed back to the Academy and informed Chifuyu who didn´t look happy over the fact, but more likely because she tried to catch some sleep, they needed to get a new plan. They sat there thinking about their possibilities when Ichika decided to continue the topic he had started before.

"So Tatenashi, why´s your face covered with all that dirt?"

"It was that Lieutenant. When I was interrogating him about his plans, he just knocked me out. Then he and his friends covered me with some dirt in order to prevent my body from being found."

"So how does it come that you are here and not underground?" He asked her.

"That was my achievement."

They turned to the source of the voice and were surprised to see a light-blue-haired boy standing in front of them.

"If you´ll allow me to introduce myself I´m Hoseok Sarashiki, Tatenashi´s younger brother and former leader of the Cyber Security Department of the Korean Military or CSD for short. After what happened a few days ago the Sarashiki Family couldn´t ignore the fact that there was an average human who was able to beat an IS so we decided to send some reinforcements in order to contain these information within the walls of the Academy. When I arrived at the Academy at midnight I was searching for Tatenashi. When I couldn´t find her I just hacked her cellphone to determine her position. It took me half an hour to find her and another to get her out of this hole. She was buried to her shoulders and honestly, it looked like she was about to get stoned. After a short explanation of what happened she immediately went after you. While she was gone I took some time to gather intel about the White Star. I don´t think you´re going to like what I found."

"What is it?" All of them asked simultaneously.

"As you know the White Star has a total manpower of one million members if you count the reservists. A few hours ago a worldwide message was broadcasted to all reservists of the White Star. The message said that they were to mobilize and meet their superiors in a certain area depending on what country they were stationed in. I managed to decode the message that was sent to the reservists in Japan before they locked me out of the network. Their orders are to gather at the beach of the city of Aomori and await further instructions. I don´t know what they are up to, but I´m sure that it can´t be something good."

"That doesn´t sound very good, have you any idea what they could be up to?"

"They are probably preparing to take out another nation or corporation. I don´t see another reason for mobilizing an amount of men that great."

He was interrupted by Tatenashi.

"Yeah, that´s all good but I´m more interested about that Lieutenant."

"I´ve tried to gather intel about him too. From what I´ve heard he´s a German but whether you believe it or not: None of our contacts in Germany have information about him nor about any other member of the White Star that seem to be from Germany. All these people seem to be like ghosts. The only time they are spotted in the public is when they are buying supplies or when they are on a mission. I´ve tried everything: searched neighborhoods, checked governmental records but there´s almost nothing about these men except for their names, ages and occupation. Even their nationality can´t be confirmed to one hundred percent as the countries they claim to come from have no birth certificate for any of them. On the other hand they have many contacts, pretty astonishing for such mysterious men, don´t you think? I did some quick maths and found out that the average mercenary has about 75 friends or contacts outside the organization."

"Okay… that´s big." Tatenashi stuttered.

"Yeah, isn´t it? I don´t know how they managed to keep that hidden from us all this time and what´s even more astonishing is that some of their contacts in return are in connected to the Sarashiki Family."

Tatenashi needed a moment to process all the information that her younger brother had just fed her. After a few more moments Hoseok decided bring up another topic.

"So Tatenashi-Chan, you still haven´t told me what´s so important about that Lieutenant, care to explain?"

Tatenashi just looked at him for a second and went back to her thoughtful expression. After some more time only two words left her mouth.

"It´s Shimo."

Hoseok looked at her in confusion.

"I thought you shot him back then. I even saw the records."

"Well, it seems he has survived somehow. And now he has come once again to take out the rest of the Family. It just doesn´t fit together. That operation back then was conducted by Phantom Task and if he was working for them, why is he working for the White Star now? And I remember him holding a personal grudge against Laura. There are so much secrets he´s keeping from us."

"It could be that all this was staged by the White Star and they are using Phantom Task only to stir our attention away from them."

"Could be possible too, but that still leaves the question why they did this. At this point they were practically unknown to the Sarashiki Family. Unless… they were the ones that took out our leaders in the other parts of the world." She exclaimed.

"I do enjoy your little chat but do I have to remind you that your target is still to find the mercenaries and get back our money. You can talk about this whole conspiracy later." Chifuyu exclaimed from behind. "Right now I´m only interested in getting back our money and maybe the reason why they ran for it."

"I´m sorry, Orimura-Sensei, but at this point we have no possible way of tracking down the mercenaries."

"You little kids still got much to learn. This holographic ship was headed for Korean waters in order to make us believe they were trying to escape the grip of Japanese authorities. Now, if they were not sailing into Korean waters they won´t be sailing into Chinese waters either but they are most likely trying to get east of Japan, out on the sea where international maritime law is imposed. By doing this they are able to avoid whatever authorities are chasing them and as there is no government for the international sea there is no way we could apply for an extradition of these individuals. Also, trying to retrieve them or anything they have by force is considered violation of the IML therefore piracy. Long story short: The international sea is the best place for those mercenaries to hide and prepare for their next moves. I have already contacted the JSDF but to no avail. They´ve been searching the sea east of Japan since you were gone but they couldn´t find anything. That´s because they only got few ships to fulfill this task. If the mercenaries have a smart commander they know how to outmaneuver them and avoid detection. Therefore, I´ll send you out to scout the sea southeast and east of Japan. You are faster than the ships and you will therefore be able to scout out a much larger region in less time."

"Understood." They all replied and ascended into the night sky once more.

Meanwhile Hoseok was about to get his luggage but he was stopped by Chifuyu.

"I think there´s more to this "Shimo" than Tatenashi is willing to tell me. I know this is a mean request but I need to know everything about him in order to prevent the students from getting themselves hurt."

He looked at her in misbelieving for a second before replying laughingly:" The great Chifuyu Orimura needs to know something. And I thought I´ve already seen everything. In this case I´m eager to help. The story is a bit complicated but mostly because there is so much we don´t know yet. And that even though it´s been ten years since the incident." He muttered before continuing.

"After we recovered from that incident we immediately started our investigations. All the evidence we found, all the statements we recorded, it all led to Phantom Task. You have to understand that at this point the Sarashiki Family was still severely weakened by the incident and therefore wasn´t able to conduct proper research. To understand this you have to know the way the Sarashiki Family is organized. The Family was founded by three siblings from Japan in the year 1945 after the two of them were enlisted to serve in the Japanese Intelligence in the Second World War. They saw a lot of atrocities throughout the whole war and after their return agreed that something like that should never happen again. And thus the Sarashiki Family was born. Their plan was to rise in the ranks of the worlds superpowers and influencing their leaders. One of them went to the US while the other "defected" to the Soviet Union and the third stayed in Japan to ensure that nothing bad would happen to their home country. Over time they all got rose in the political structures of their countries, got married and used their political influence to prevent the escalation of the numerous proxy wars during the cold war. This was the first generation of the Sarashiki Family. After that the second generation followed during the 1970´s. They were the descendants of the first generation and mainly focused on de-escalating the Vietnam War and preventing conflict from breaking out in other places. The Sarashiki Family threatened to break up during the dissolvement of the Soviet Union as there were no longer nations that could endanger world peace. Those that shared that opinion quickly changed their mind after the First Chechen War. And so we prevented the breakup of the Sarashiki Family. After that comes the third generation. All 32 members of the third generation were born during the 2020´s and are, at this point, operating in every corner of the world. Then in 2034, something terrible happened. It later became known as the First-Contact Incident."

He trailed off for a second.

"I haven´t been there myself but I´ve seen the records. It was truly terrible."

"What happened?" Chifuyu asked him.

"Maybe Tatenashi can give you a much more accurate depiction of the events but I´ll try and summarize it as accurately as possible."

While Hoseok told her what had happened ten years ago Ichika and his friends sped over the sea south of Japan, Tatenashi racing ahead of everyone.

"Why are you making such a mystery of it?" Ichika shouted after Tatenashi while they flew over the black sea at maximum speed.

He was worried about her. Since this night she had an expression of grim on her face. Something he had never seen on her before and was unlikely to appear in the case of a person that hadn´t played an important role in her life.

"I´m not saying I won´t let you know anything about him. Right now, there´s just no time to talk. We need to hurry up and find him before he and his men get into international waters." She replied without looking back.

Ichika wasn´t done with her.

"Listen, one of the first rules of battle is to know your enemy. If we don´t know what we are dealing with, we can hardly assist you should it come to another confrontation with this "Shimo". Given the things he has already achieved he may even be able to defeat you. I´m just telling you that you should explain it to us before you drag us into a fight against whoever he and his men really are."

"We can talk about this as soon as we find them." She answered in a pissed manner.

"And what if they attack us? You´ve seen that warship. It may just be a normal warship but its crew definitely consists of more than these one-hundred mercenaries and we may end up killing more people than is good for our reputation."

Suddenly she turned around and grabbed Ichika´s throat and began squeezing it.

"I don´t know where that sudden rise of acumen comes from and I´ll tell you over and over again until you get it: If these mercenaries stay free, they will do much worse than trying to kill our students."

As she talked she tightened her grip around his throat.

"And in case you haven´t noticed. At this point I give a damn about my reputation."

She released Ichika who was trying to catch some air and continued searching for the mercenaries.

For the next minutes no one said a word and Tatenashi still flew at the top with no one trying to catch up to her until Ichika decided to call out to the others.

"It´s better if we split up. Laura, I trust you can fight the mercenaries yourself without killing them, Charlotte you go with Cecilia, Rin you team up with Houki and I´ll try to get after Tatenashi. If anyone of you encounters the mercenaries, message us immediately

No one had to say anything against the constellation of the teams, especially not Laura, as she sped away in another direction. Ichika was pretty sure, should she encounter the Lieutenant, she would try to kill him, but he also was sure that he could deal with her one more time.

He had to hurry in order to catch up to Tatenashi who seemed to have increased her speed.

He spent the next minutes following her and thinking about everything that had happened. This puzzle was, without any doubt, missing some major parts and he was determined to unveil the cards the mercenaries held before they were able to use them.

While Ichika was trying to keep up with Tatenashi, Captain Haruto Tanaka was standing on the bridge of the Japanese Corvette _JDF Kobayashi_ , looking at the radar, then out on the sea and back on the radar. What he saw there just didn´t seem right.

"Hand me the damn binoculars!" He demanded from his first officer Sora Yamamato.

His second-in-command did as he was told and a few moments later Tanaka held the device in his hands.

Sadly, it didn´t really help him understand what was going on. A few minutes before, a gigantic warship had come into their sights but the radar wasn´t showing anything.

To make sure he wasn´t going insane he had asked the other crew members and they all confirmed what he had seen. Now their ship was following the unknown ship along the south coast of Japan.

They had hailed the ship several times before but hadn´t gotten a response. They were sure that they didn´t got the wrong ship as the description fit exactly on what Chifuyu Orimura had given them, before they headed out to search for said ship.

There were only two ships send on this mission, the other one was the _JDF Atago_ that had been tasked with patrolling the sea north of Japan.

Now he was preparing once again to hail the unknown vessel. On this way they hoped to avoid a confrontation, since their ship was hopelessly inferior to anything bigger than a corvette.

"This is Captain Haruto Tanaka, of the _JDS Kobayashi."_ He spoke and took a deep breath before continuing.

 _"_ Unknown vessel, you have been entering Japanese waters without permission or identification. We were also told that you are housing an individual that has been trying to kill students of the IS-Academy. On top of that you have been breaking your contract with the Academy without returning the money. Return to the Academy immediately or we will be forced to take the necessary measures."

To his surprise he actually got an answer.

"And what kind of measures would that be?"

The voice on the other side sounded rather bored.

"That depends on your next actions. If you are going to turn around and sail back to the Academy we will not be forced to resort to force. However, if you refuse to do so we are forced to request reinforcements from the nearest naval base in order to force you to return."

"Are you threatening us?"

"I'm only following my orders."

The person on the other end sighed and replied:" And so are we. Our orders are coming from the SSC-Council in person. Given the amount of times the Council has contacted a commander personally, it seems to be some serious shit that they are worried about. If the guesses I made from the spare information I got before leaving are right, then we are about to head onto a mission that could decide the worlds future."

He didn´t really know what to answer on that. The mercenary seemed to have a point. Orders were orders and you had to follow them, regardless if it was for the money our your country. Nonetheless, his orders had to be followed too, so he didn´t really had a choice.

"That's not the point. We are here to bring you back to your post. Breaking a private security contract is deemed as desertion. Desertion within our countries borders is being penalized with a minimum of seven years in prison and a massive fine. On top of that it will damage your corporation's reputation."

"As soon as this is over, every contract broken by the White Star will be forgotten. We could kill you and your men right now and would get away with it. If you´re wise enough to choose to live then you may even find out why. Let that sink in for a minute."

With that the link was cut and silence filled the bridge.

Sora stepped up behind him and cleared his throat.

Tanaka turned around and nodded to him and his first office began to speak:" Sir, I have heard to conversation and took the freedom to alert every nearby ship. I hope it complies with your orders."

He sighed and replied:" You should have asked me, Yamamato. But in view of the circumstances there seems to be no other way. How many ships have reported yet?"

"The _Shirataka,_ the _Umitaka_ and the _Kumataka_."

"Can you tell me anything about these ships?"

"Coastal-Defense-Speedboats, all of them. If we do it correctly we may be able to force the mercenaries into sailing back to our mainland."

"Send them our coordinates. I want all of those ships at yellow alert."

For the next time the _Kobayashi_ followed the mercenary ship without anyone on the bridge saying anything. Despite its size the mercenary ship was able to maintain a speed that was similar to that of the corvette which made keeping up with them quite difficult. One navigation mistake could make them gain a few kilometers in distance. The silence was broken by his navigation officer.

"Sir, Miyake-Jima to starboard!"

He looked at starboard and spotted said island.

"That means they´re not trying to escape into international waters like we predicted." He muttered to himself when the voice of his guard officer came through his communicator.

"Sir, I´m reading four optical contacts at eleven o´clock. They seem to be of the same class as the ship we are pursuing right now. What are your orders?"

He took a look at the radar, which showed the exact same thing it had shown since they had began chasing after the first mercenary ship.

"Continue the pursuit. If they attack us they´ll get more problems than they already have."

Much to his dismay, they were hailed by one of the ships only moments later.

"This is Captain Haruki of the _Lotus Blossom_. I have received reports of you threatening one of our ships. I hereby order you to immediately stand down and abort the pursuit. If you chose to do otherwise we will be forced to destroy you and your ship."

"Negative, your organization is charged for breaking a contract and trying to murder a student of the IS Academy. If you want us to abort the pursuit you have to hand over these individuals."

"Negative, we won´t hand over these individuals. If you don´t abort the pursuit right now we will open fire. I´ll give you ten fucking seconds to make your choice."

"I don´t even need one. We are still in Japanese waters and also have three more ships at standby."

For a moment the voice on the other side went silent before replying:" I already wondered what those three ships were doing outside their assigned patrolling area. Don´t worry about them, they won´t arrive in time."

Tanaka froze as he realized why their reinforcements hadn´t arrived yet.

"What did you do to them, you son of a bitch?"

They other man laughed and replied:" We didn´t do anything to them. Let´s just say that they had an unlucky encounter with three magnet mines."

"These weapons are illegal. As soon as the government hears of this you´ll be in trouble."

"Who said that they´ll ever hear of this?"

At that the connection was cut and a missile launched from one of the ships, its glowing trace illuminating the dark sky.

"Evasive Maneuver, NOW! I don´t care in which direction as long as that missile don´t hits us." He shouted to the navigator who had been in a state of half-sleep to this point.

He jumped in his seat and grabbed the steering wheel. With one elegant move to the right he spun the wheel and Tanaka had to grab on to his chair in order not to fall.

The missile hit the ocean only meters away from the ship and produced a fountain of water splashing onto the ship´s deck.

"Prepare main batteries! We´re firing back with everything we got." He shouted and watched how the ship´s main battery began to turn into the direction of the warships.

"Turn the ship around and retreat to the nearest naval base! This is a battle we cannot win." He shouted and after a quick look on the map, his navigator did as he was told.

"The nearest base is at Aogashima Island. Any objections?"

"No."

Now the only thing to do was pray that none of the missiles would hit them or they would be done for.

He listened as the first salvo of shells left the main battery of his ship and hit the ocean several hundred meters away from the warships.

"Captain, may I have word with you?"

He turned around and saw his intelligence officer standing in the doorframe.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I´d like to discuss in a more quiet place."

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"I think the ship´s stern would be an appropriate place."

At the ships stern his officer leaned against the railing and sighed.

"I´ve always liked it here. It´s so quiet and all you can listen to are the engines."

He listened for a moment and had to admit that his officer was right.

"You´re right. But that doesn´t change why we came here."

"I´ve watched that ship for quite a time now and I just realized how dangerous it is. If any of this information leaves the ship we may face a political dilemma so I need your word that you´ll stay silent."

"You have my word. I think it´s about time I return the favor."

"For me saving you back then at Hilo? Yeah, I think it´s about time you do that."

Tanaka had been saved by him during the Silver Gospel Incident when the rouge IS blew up the building Tanaka had been in and was buried beneath the debris.

The young officer had appeared out of nowhere and removed the rubble from Tanaka in order to get him to the nearest hospital.

Since then both of them had become very close friends and the intelligence officer even applied for a transfer to Tanaka´s ship.

He was ripped from his thoughts by the voice of his friend.

"The first thing is the fact that this ship is as big as a battleship and still is able to move as fast as a corvette. Whatever powers that ship must be extremely powerful."

"Do you think it´s an IS-core?"

"Unlikely. We have no records of any cores recently being stolen. It´s also unlikely that they are working for Phantom Task as they are only using IS suits in combat situations. And how likely is it that one country or corporation is in possession of five cores? Maybe it´s some kind of new energy source."

"I don't like that. If they're not working for Phantom Task, then what is their goal?"

A loud hiss interrupted their conversation as another missile left the mercenary ship and made its way through the air and vanished into the clouds

"Hm, that took longer than I expected." His intelligence officer noted.

"What?" Tanaka asked.

"Their rockets. It took them pretty long to reload the second one. From that I can conclude that those rockets are not the ship´s main weapon."

Tanaka looked up and saw a weak orange glow through the clouds, right above the ship.

He was about to run back to the ship when the missile burst through the clouds, headed directly for the ship´s main deck.

He threw himself on the ground trying to avoid being put down by the shockwave the rocket would produce upon impact.

Though he heard a loud explosion right above him he didn´t feel the ship shake or anything.

When he got up again he could see a lone IS circling around the four mercenary ships and intercepting any launching missiles.

He also noticed that the mercenary ships were still following them although they initially went off into a completely different direction.

He ran back onto the bridge and shouted:" Put everything you´ve got into the engines. We´re getting out of here!"

The ship´s engines began to roar so loud, it could be heard on the other side of the ship.

The fierce battle behind them began distancing itself and soon they could only see the flashes of the four ships trying to hold of the IS in vain.

"Wait… four ships? Where did the one we were pursuing go?" he thought to himself when he got his answer.

"Sir, one contact to portside. Collision imminent!" The guarding officer shouted.

Before Tanaka could say anything the ship was shaken and was thrown off his feet, landing face-on on the ground.

When he got up again he could see the damage the impact had caused: The mercenary ship had completely embedded in the ship´s nose section and didn´t look like it remove itself from that position.

At the top of the mercenary ship stood several mercenaries which shoot everything on the ship´s deck that moved.

After the were sure that no one was left on the deck they threw a few ropes over the railing of their ship and began climb down on the ropes.

After the first few of them had reached the Kobayashi´s deck their comrades on the mercenary ships threw things that looked like metal plates on their comrades.

The mercenaries cached the heavy plates without any problems and it took Tanaka a few moments to realize that these were bullet shields.

He grabbed the microphone and shouted:" This is Captain Tanaka. We´re being boarded. All hands prepare to defend the ship! Intruders are located at the nose section."

He looked at the advancing mercenaries, who meanwhile had formed a shield wall in order to secure their following comrades.

After a respectable number of mercenaries had made their way onto the Kobayashi, one of them detonated a bomb behind the others which blew a hole into the ground. The mercenaries jumped in and it seemed like they were going into the direction of the engine room.

As Tanaka saw this he shouted:" No time to waste guys. Let´s get down there and defend our ship."

In the armory they all had to choose their weapons.

Tanaka decided for an SAR-29 Assault Rifle. It was the main weapon of the Japanese Navy. Though it was small, it had an automatic fire-mode which severely reduced its accuracy and was therefore perfect to be used inside of a ship.

When he entered the corridor that lead to the canteen he could already hear the gunfire and after the next corner he faced an advancing shield wall.

The other soldiers had to use the doors at the sides of the corridors as cover but even then, they weren´t able to stop the mercenaries´ advance.

It was always the same: Whenever the mercenaries had reached another room the soldiers had to retreat to the inside in order not to get hit. As soon as the room was behind the line of the mercenaries a few of them separated from the main group and went into the room to kill any soldiers that were left inside.

Their tactics reminded him of the ancient Romans and from history lessons he knew that the Romans left almost every skirmish as victors.

"Everyone, retreat to the ladders. They can´t use their tactics there but if they want to take any crucial areas they have to go through there."

The soldiers that were left quickly followed his orders and soon they were standing at the ladder that led up to the main deck.

Tanaka had agreed to watch their back while retreating.

"Fuck. The hatch is locked." The soldier standing on top of the ladder exclaimed.

"You better unlock it then. I can already hear the mercenaries approaching." Tanaka replied.

When the soldier finally unlocked the hatch and opened it all he could say was:" Shit." Then a loud bang occurred.

When Tanaka turned around all that was left of the soldier´s face was a bloody, misshapen lump of flesh.

Through the hatch he saw a laughing mercenary still holding a shotgun.

Suddenly, a barrel was pressed into his back and someone behind him shouted:" If you want your captain to stay alive, out down your weapons."

The mercenary that had spoken turned to the one standing at the hatch and said:" You´re a genius, Lieutenant. A whole squad can´t bypass there defenses but one man can."

"And one man is all it takes to distract them long enough. Say, are the magnet mines in position?"

"Yup, all of them are deployed. If that German Uber-Soldier makes one wrong move everything here will blow up."

"Good then let´s take their weapons and get the fuck outta here." The mercenary lieutenant replied while the others took the weapons from the Japanese.

After they were done the mercenaries went back to their own ship and Tanaka decided that it was good to get back onto the bridge.

From there he saw that the mercenaries had laid down a bunch of explosives around the place their ships had merged.

"Are those miners or what?" Yamamato asked in order to soften up the atmosphere.

"No, they´re trained physicists. If those bombs damage our hull enough they are able to free themselves, plus these bombs are going to create a remarkable amount of knockback. If that isn´t enough to separate our ships, then I don´t know what´ll do."

Tanaka wasn't sure if he was mocking them or if he was being serious.

At that a massive explosion shook the ship and only a few moments later he could see the mercenary ship slowly distancing itself.

In the sky Tanaka could see an IS. Though it was dark he was able to see that the IS had a giant railgun mounted on its shoulder.

"Let´s just hope that this ends well." He muttered.

Meanwhile Laura was looking down on the mercenary ship that was slowly moving away from the Japanese ship.

She had managed to locate the source of the rocket attack and had been able to hold off the following strikes.

After a time, the ships had stopped firing and she was about to attack them when she received a threat from the Lieutenant that he would kill the crew of the Japanese ship if she wasn´t to hold her fire.

It was a typical mercenary tactic. As much as she hated him she couldn´t just let the soldiers die, so she "agreed" to his terms.

When the mercenary ship had finally emerged from the gap it had caused in the hull of the Japanese ship, Laura could see the whole damage.

About a quarter of the ship´s nose was missing while the mercenary ship had taken next to no damage.

She was already wondering what kind of technology the mercenaries were using when she spotted a certain subject of hate on the right side of the ship.

He was waving at her.

She put on her grumpy expression and descended until she was only meters above the ship´s deck.

"Good to see you. How you´re doing so far?" He greeted her in German.

She was completely startled at this behavior.

"Are you dense talking to your enemy like that?"

"I wouldn´t exactly consider you my enemy. Only a person I´ve had problems with."

"Well, I consider you my enemy. You tried to kill a student at our Academy."

He sighed and frowned at her. "If I had a bullet for every time I heard that I would have enough ammo to kill every single student at this fucking academy. Remember who pulled the trigger? In case you haven´t noticed: It wasn´t me."

"Well, yes. But you tricked her into shooting the student."

"She simply copied the movement I told you perform in order to enable you to fire that gun."

"But you knew she would try to do it, didn´t you?"

"Yes, I did. But hold on for a sec. Do you understand the point of this discussion?"

"I don´t see a point in any conversation I had or will have with you."

"Well then, let me explain. The point is to show you that the truth is often more complex than you think."

"How could all the things you just said be about truth?"

"Well, to put it simply your statement is correct but it´s not the whole truth. While it is true that my initial goal was to kill the student, I didn´t achieve it alone and so you can´t frame only me for trying. See what I´m trying to say?"

She hesitated for a moment before muttering:" I guess you´re right. But that doesn´t make it the right thing to do."

"Yeah, I know that. By the way did you know that one-hundred percent of our mercenaries are deemed psychopaths based on their actions?"

"What´s that all about?"

"Just another example of how the truth is more complicated than it seems at first. You see, we are dividing our members not into ethnical groups based on where they come from but rather into ethical groups based on what they believe. From these one-million mercenaries only about 4,9999% are deemed psychopaths while we have about 0,0001% philosophical psychopaths, 50% nihilists, 12% sociopaths and 33% percent people who are just doing their jobs."

"Ah, I see. What´s the difference between the two psychopath groups?"

"These 0,0001% mean that there´s only one person out of one million that is classified as such. Me!" He said and sounded almost a little proud.

"What makes you so different from the other psychopaths?"

"Philosophy. While it is true that both groups find pleasure in things like, manipulating, seducing and killing, people like me often take it to the philosophical level. That means we´re thinking about what we´re doing, try to distinguish between right or wrong, all that stuff. We only take it to the physical level when we feel like it. You could call us philosophers on the battlefield."

"I don´t think that such people have lost anything on the battlefield."

"Then how about philosophers with a hang to violence? I heard that things like this do exist. Also, that statistic was made up."

He clapped his hands and changed the subject.

"Now that you´re already here, why don´t I give you a little tour of our ship?"

Laura just gazed at him in misbelieving.

"Is it just me or have gone completely insane?"

"Is it just me or have completely lost your sense for unique opportunities?"

"How do you mean?"

"I do not consider you my enemy yet. Therefore, I´m inviting you on a friendly little tour of our ship. This is THE chance to learn something about the people you consider your enemy."

She hesitated a little bit but eventually her brain gave in to the twisted logic of the Lieutenant and she landed in front of him.

Before stowing away her IS, she asked him:" How can I be sure that none of your mercenary friends will shot me as soon as they see me?"

"Well, for one most of them are drinking right now, so we can avoid the ships canteen if you want. I also intend to make use of my position as Lieutenant should it come this far. But in case the other lieutenants or, which I highly doubt, the commander are drunk, I´ll hand you my gun."

He took a little pistol out of his holster and handed it to her.

She held the little gun in her hands and viewed it from every side.

The pistol was small and could be fit in almost any holster if it wasn´t for the rifle-like magazine between the grip and the trigger.

"Interesting." She noted. "What kind of weapon is this?"

The Lieutenant who had already began to walk into the direction of the ship´s nose turned around and replied:" It´s an ATAF-MP-G1. MP stands for machine- pistol and G1 for Generation 1. An important note in this matter is, that the White Star distinguishes between machine pistols and sub-machine guns. The difference is easy: machine pistols are just pistols with a full-automatic fire mechanism that fires with incredible inaccuracy and is therefore often used for battles inside of buildings while sub-machine guns are machine guns that fire pistol ammunition. I carry this one because it's small and fits in every pocket. Ideal if I can't reach out with my hands to kill someone."

"I see." She replied.

When the both of them made their way to the ship´s nose she didn´t holster the gun but rather took a pose where her hands covered the gun whenever the Lieutenant held to tell her something about the ship.

On this way she learned that the ship´s name was Battlefront due to the many battles she had already seen in her seven years of duty, making it a fairly young ship. It was classified as a destroyer of the Spitzbergen-class and had been launched in September of 2036. Since then it had undergone may refits and modifications, most of them being ordered by the captain on behalf of his crew.

When they arrived at the ship´s nose she noticed the gigantic main batteries of the ship.

They looked bigger than most guns she would expect on something called a destroyer.

Out of pure curiosity she asked:" What caliber do these cannons have?"

He took a quick look at the cannon and replied without looking at her:" These cannons have a caliber of 200. That's all I can say."

Laura decided to continue looking at the guns, trying to figure out anything related to the looks

"Gorgeous guns, aren't they?"

The voice was near her ear and Laura flinched when she realized that.

"Come on, let´s continue the tour." The Lieutenant said laughingly. "We´ll continue with the bridge. I´ll have to pay Friedrich a little visit in order to know why the ship´s still standing and not moving."

After a quick look over the railing she realized that he was right. The ship hadn´t moved on its own since they had blown themselves free.

To her surprise the bridge was a pretty comfortable place. The walls were painted in pretty warm colors and there even was a carpet in the captain´s ready room.

The Lieutenant explained that this was to keep the crew calm during heated battle situations.

What surprised her even more was that the bridge had only one occupant at the time, namely the ship´s pilot whom the Lieutenant greeted hearty.

"N´abend, Friedrich. Care to explain why we´re still standing in the middle of nowhere and not moving into the direction of the rendezvous."

The pilot looked up from his console and smiled at the sight.

"Well, Ivo and the boys went down to the canteen to drink something. Before he left he told me to stay on the bridge and monitor our journey, which I can´t do because he didn´t give me the coordinates before leaving. I don´t want to go down and have to be yelled at by a drunken commander for half an hour in order to explain him the issue."

"Really? Did Ivo just leave? Without anything? This doesn´t really sounds like him."

"You´re missing the fact that Ricardo was able to get him into drinking at least one bottle before heading down."

The Lieutenant just shrugged before replying:" Well, I guess in this case it´s completely understandable. In this case, I´ll help you."

"Do you even know where we´re going?"

"As I already said: I have the bad habit of putting my nose into other people´s business."

He stepped beside the pilot and activated the holographic map. Then he pointed at a place somewhere in the Pacific.

"See? This is where we´ll meet with Battlegroup Leviathan and the Adlerhorst."

"Hm, I´ve heard about her. She´s said to be a beautiful helicopter carrier."

"She indeed is. I´ve seen the blueprints before I left the mainland five years ago."

"Sounds reassuring. But how do we get all those five-thousand mercenaries aboard of one helicopter carrier?"

"Easy, we don´t. You see, once Operation LV is complete we´ll have all hands full to do. And I doubt that they´ll stop, once they are done in Western Europe, so it´s better to have a few men at standby in every region."

"Wait, does that mean you´re planning to go to Europe?" Laura interrupted the both.

The Lieutenant turned around and replied:" Yeah, we do. Got a problem with that?"

"I don´t like the thought of people like you coming into my home country and doing what mercenaries normally do."

"Like what? Raping little girls and stealing the supplies from the peasants? Come on Laura, this is not the Thirty Years War. As a modern-day corporation we need to have some sort of trustworthiness too. And besides, Western Europe does not necessarily mean Germany. Think of it as some kind of a vacation. We go in, have some fun, and by fun I mean work hard, and leave again."

"Interesting, how this stands in contrast to what you said a few moments ago."

"That lady has some bite. Sure you can handle that much?" The pilot began teasing the Lieutenant.

He just turned around and hissed:" Zatknis', ty malen'kaya pizda."

The pilot just laughed and said:" Whatever, I´ll leave you to it." With that he began readdressing is work as navigator.

The Lieutenant turned back to Laura and spoke in Japanese:" I would appreciate it if we could discuss that matter outside. It´s none of his business." He said while pointing at the pilot.

"Very well." She replied in Japanese. "But I expect serious answers."

The Lieutenant didn´t reply and just went out the side door, while she had to hurry on order not to lose him.

She found him leaning against the railing and looking out onto the black ocean. The moon threw a pale light on the whole scene and reflected weak from the water.

Though he noticed her he didn´t turn his head and instead waited until she began to speak in German:" So, what´s all this about? Operation LV? The Adlerhorst? What are you really planning?"

He sighed and shook his head while looking out onto the ocean.

"Maybe I should have never come to the Academy. It wouldn´t have changed the results but I was eager to see you again, though I didn´t expect to meet Katana again."

"Just what are you talking about? We didn´t meet before and who the hell is Katana?"

"You still have so much to learn. For example, did you know that every leader of the Sarashiki Family takes on the name of Tatenashi if he or she becomes leader? I bet you didn´t."

"She´s not interested in such information. Who would be? It´s just a bunch of letters you use to identify persons."

The Lieutenant didn´t bother looking at the source of the voice but just continued looking out on the sea while letting out a small chuckle.

"I already wondered if you´d reach this place within the next 24 hours. Good to see you made it. How was your flight?"

"You may be able to fool Laura with that, but not me." Tatenashi said in a voice that didn´t seem to belong to her. All the playfulness was gone and she sounded more like Rin when she was reminded of her flat chest. The Lieutenant didn´t seem to bother about the fact.

"Who said that I did fool her? She took my offer and at this point has learned more than my superiors are willing to reveal."

"Contrary to Laura I´m not here to chat with you. I am here to make you pay."

"Then go ahead. I won´t be the one to fire the first shot in this war."

"Just wait a moment. You´re having a trick up you sleeve, don´t you?"

"Took you long enough to figure out. So, what are you going to do about it, hm?"

"I´m going to show you that you´re not the only playing unfair." Tatenashi said before her figure turned into water and splashed all over the place.

Laura watched in shock as the Lieutenant just shook his head and muttered:" It was so damn clear that she´d do this." He raised his voice but this time he sounded a bit anxious.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are. I´m not going to hurt you unless you hurt me."

Suddenly Tatenashi landed behind him and before he could react she had rammed her spear into his thigh.

The Lieutenant sunk to his knees and gaspingly let out the worst German curses he could find in order to distract himself and the others from the pain in his thigh and the fact that blood was pouring all over his leg.

"Does it hurt? Are you feeling guilty?." Tatenashi whispered. The Lieutenant tried to say something but she cut him off.

"Shhh, I already know the answer. You´re not feeling guilty. But I can change that right now."

"Then bring it, sirota!" The Lieutenant snarled.

Tatenashi pulled a wire out of her pocket and slung it around the Lieutenant´s neck.

The boy began to choke as the wire slowly drained all the air from his lungs, while Tatenashi stood behind him and pulled at the wire.

Laura stepped near to Tatenashi and took a closer look. She looked down at the Lieutenant and said:" You´re really pathetic, even for a mercenary."

He tried to say something but Tatenashi cut him off once again

"Did I say you could talk?" She hissed.

"Let him talk. I heard that mercenaries would do anything in order to save their own lives even if they have to betray their own comrades. Let´s see how much of a mercenary he is."

"Hmph, whatever he can give us, it won´t be enough. The only way he can pay for what he´s done is with his death."

"You gotta see the beneficial part in this situation: I can squeeze everything I want to know out of him and if we are done you can still kill him. It´s a win-win situation."

"Yes, Laura´s right." The Lieutenant choked out.

Both girls glared at him for a moment, before Laura said:" Maybe you should release him. I don´t think he can provide us with any valuable information in this pitiful state."

"Alright, but if he starts pissing me off, I´ll have this thing around his neck in next to no time." Tatenashi replied and released the Lieutenant. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

After he had finally regained his breath, he raised up while still holding the bleeding on his inured thigh.

He just stood there, looking the two girls into the eyes before shrugging as if he wanted to say:" What do you expect from me?"

Since he and Tatenshi seemed to share some psychological bond she lifted the wire up to make him understand why he was still on the ship and not in the ocean.

"Ah, yes. Well, where do I begin? I dunno. Gimme some directions."

"Let´s begin with something simple." Laura said. "Who are you really?."

"Trust me. You don´t wanna know." He replied.

"Why not?"

"It would destroy our perception of the world and all those you love and cherish, including Ichika."

"Go to hell." Tatenashi exclaimed when she jumped forward and punched him in his face.

The Lieutenant stumbled and fell on his back. Tatenashi went after him and jumped on his chest.

She punched him several times in his face but eventually decided to stop, due to the metallic sound occurring every time she hit him.

"You will answer our questions or this is the least you´ll experience." She hissed at him while standing up.

He decided to stay on the ground and just replied:" I´d like to discuss this question at the end. Please, I´ll tell you anything you want to know, just wait to the end."

"He´s beginning to beg." Laura noted. "Still, I´m not sure if this is a good or a bad sign."

"In my eyes it doesn´t matter as long as he spits out what he knows." Tatenashi replied.

"Yeah, but first you spit out where you left Ichika and the others. Shouldn´t they be around too?" The Lieutenant interfered.

Tatenashi grabbed him at his collar and lifted him up until he was face to face with her.

"If you don´t shut the fuck up I´ll make you regret ever being born. And I´m not making empty threats like Laura." She said and threw him against the wall.

"But to answer your question: I told Ichika and the others to scout out some other locations while I went to the place I knew I´d find you. Sadly Laura seemed to have been faster than me. If it wasn´t for her I would have just killed you. If you survive this, which I highly doubt, you are in her debt."

"I already am." He replied without caring if anyone understood what he said.

"For what?" Laura asked a bit confused.

"For opening my eyes."

The both girls looked at him in confusion. He noticed this and tried to explain himself:" You see, Laura. Before I met you I was exactly the same kind of person you are in my eyes right now. A follower of the regime. Not questioning anything my superiors were doing. Until one fateful day." He trailed off only for Laura to take the word.

"Are you always talking nonsense like that? Because if you do I wouldn´t wonder how you landed on the streets."

The Lieutenant chuckled only to be kicked in his face by Tatenashi who once again hissed at him:" Cut that stupid laugh of yours and begin thinking about how much I agree with Laura!"

The Lieutenant just groaned at the hit he had just taken and got up but his injured thigh didn´t made it easy to keep standing.

"Since that conversation is leading nowhere I demand a change of topic." He said.

"You´re in no position to demand. Maybe try asking nicely next time." Tatenashi replied.

"Well, that depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Whatever your roditeli have taught you about such things."

Tatenashi snarled at him and her fist went up, but he managed to dodge it, just as his injured thigh made its presence known once more by sending a little pain through his body. He held the bleeding spot while letting out several more German curses.

"Ah, Fuck. I´ll have to pay a visit to the doctor after that. Anyway, you wanted to know what Operation LV is, right? It will help us destroy the White Star and with it the first line of defense of our weak government - and also its last. All the White Stars are headed to Europe right now in order to repel a massive terror attack that we have planned… As soon as they arrive they´ll be wiped out." He laughed maniacal before being interrupted by his injured thigh once more.

Tatenashi meanwhile had shifted into a more pensive pose and muttered:" A traitor among traitors. You´re superiors are going to be so pissed when they hear about you this. Too sad, they won´t have a chance to punish you."

With that she materialized her lance and tried to pierce him but the Lieutenant just performed a ten-meter jump and grabbed onto a metal rod hanging above them.

"Seriously? How can you perform such tricks in your pitiful condition?" Tatenashi shouted after him.

The Lieutenant didn´t reply but just moved his hanging legs forward while letting go of the rod.

He flew through the air and landed behind Laura who had in the meantime activated her Beam Saber.

When he landed behind her he immediately extended his sword and it their blades clashed against each other. Their faces moved closer as each of them tried to outdo his opponent.

"Keep out of this!" The Lieutenant began to speak. "This is between me and Tatenashi, not me and you, though we will come to that later."

"Tatenashi is my ally. And allies have each other´s back whenever the situation requires it." She said in response

"Indeed." Tatenashi quoted in from behind the boy before a metal-on-metal sound could be heard and the Lieutenant collapsed.

"Good work." Laura said to Tatenashi, looking at the limp body of the Lieutenant.

"Actually, I tried to kill him, but it seems his helmet is just as thick as his skull." Tatenashi admitted, sounding equally happy and disappointed.

Laura turned to the Lieutenant only to witness how he managed to pull the pin of a grenade, that had suddenly appeared in his hands.

Suddenly, the whole area was enveloped in yellow clouds and the Lieutenant began to cough with Laura and Tatenashi not feeling that much better.

"What is this?" The silver-haired girl coughed out before sinking to her knees.

"Oh, it´s just chlorine gas. It won´t do anything bad to you (cough) but if no one finds us within the next three minutes we´re dead." The Lieutenant replied laughingly.

Laura and Tatenashi couldn´t do anything than bombard him with angry glares when their knees went limp as well and they fell to the ground.

There they were, lying next to the Lieutenant who let out another hysterical laugh.

As her vision slowly faded away, Laura noticed a shadow rushing through the yellow clouds.


	8. Operation LV

**WARNING: This story contains memes, stolen quotes and badly translated German quotes.**

* * *

Lisbon, Portugal

It was a rather windy evening when police commissioner Dario Lopez arrived at the police station in the capital of the Lisbon District (which of course was named Lisbon).

Upon entering the station he was asked to show his ID. After searching around in his backpack for a few moments he showed his ID to the other officer who unlocked the door so he was able to proceed.

He swept through the corridors of the personnel quarters in search for a specific person. When he finally found the door he knocked on it several times and waited until a rather tired voice sounded from the other side.

"What is it? Can't I sleep one day without interruption?" He had to smile at that.

"Someone eventually had to come and wake you up. It's already 6PM and in case you haven't noticed: Neighborhoods don´t patrol themselves."

A few moments of silence followed and he knew that Maria was searching for her watch. He knew that, on occasion, it could take minutes until she found it.

"Come on, We´re already late. Now hurry up."

"Okay, okay." She muttered from behind the door. "But you´ll treat me to some coffee."

"Deal." He replied and began looking down on his watch. After some time he heard how the door was unlocked from the inside of the room and Maria stepped in front of him.

He looked up from his watch and said:" Seven minutes! That´s impressive."

"Oh, shut up, jerk." She replied laughingly. However, her smile faded when she noticed the bloody bandage around his forehead.

She gently stroke his short hair and felt the bandage.

"How did that happen?" She asked in a soft voice

He was hesitant to answer but after a more serious look from her he did:" I… I bumped my head this morning."

After she gave him persistent look he added:" While chasing a criminal through the streets of Peniche."

She smiled once again before pressing her lips on his cheek.

He slightly blushed at this but had no time to respond properly as she spoke again:" That´s the Dario I know. Always up to the challenge. But say, what where you doing outside your flat on a morning? You´re supposed to sleep at day and work at night."

"That bastard woke me up when mugging a civilian right at my doorstep. I´m still not sure if I acted to protect the civilian or just because I was robbed of my sleep."

"I think both are appropriate reasons. Now let´s go. That perimeter won´t patrol itself." She said and ran off into the direction of the garage.

Before disappearing around the corner she turned around and said:" The first one gets to drive the car." He just had to smile and think of the car keys in his pocket while slowly making his way to the garage.

When he arrived there he already saw Maria sitting on the car´s bonnet and having a rather disappointed expression.

He smiled and said:" Don´t look at me like that. You always have to look on the bright side: If you´re driving you can´t drink your coffee."

An approving nod was all he got.

"What´s on our schedule today?" She asked while entering the car from the other side.

"Mariana told me that today it is our turn to take the night shift in Algés."

"Hm, that´s not far from here. Know any good coffee shops there?"

"Well, not really but we can still look for a Starbucks if we don´t find anything comfortable. I feel like there is one at every street corner."

"Now that mention it. But I still would prefer something Portuguese."

"It´s our city. I´m sure we´ll find something."

After spending almost half an hour searching for a Portuguese coffee shop they finally found one near the beach area of Algés.

The sun had already set when Maria made her way out of the shop, carrying a coffee mug in her left and a package of bread in her right hand.

"I thought we agreed on only coffee." He said when she entered the car.

"You made me miss breakfast. Don´t worry, you´ll pay only for the coffee."

"That´s a relief. How much was the coffee?"

"One Euro. I think you can pay that. Exceeeeeept, you are broke because you visited some indecent places last day."

"I can assure you, I did no such thing."

"And how do you plan to do so?"

He took out his purse and handed her a one-euro coin. She nodded in a satisfied manner and he said:" Now I´m broke and not able to go to the indecent places I planned to visit next day thanks to you, lazy woman."

She just laughed and took a sip from her coffee.

"You better stop talking and start driving. I don´t think Mariana would be happy if we miss a burglary because of you complaining about going broke."

He smiled and started the engine of the car. It looked like it was going to be an exciting night.

Meanwhile Louis Santos turned off the engine of his personal car and sighed. He hated nightshifts. Especially during such beautiful nights when he used to sit on the roof of his apartment and watch the stars.

The light pollution had never been a problem to him, as he lived outside the city on the land where he could turn the lights on and off without taking into consideration angry neighbors or anything like that.

Though he sometimes noticed the lights coming from the denser settled regions of Lisbon he never had any problems while viewing the stars.

He sighed once again and put his head on the steering wheel before raising it again and opening the door of his car.

Now he was looking into a grey sky with not a single star to be seen thanks to the massive light pollution of the city´s airspace.

Upon arriving at the massive steel gate of the naval base Arsenal do Alfeite he pressed his thumb on the pad to give his identification via fingerprint.

Rumbling the massive steel gate split in two and made way for the coast guard officer that looked rather tiny when compared to it.

"Hey, look who´s returned from the dead."

He turned at the source of the sarcastic voice and was to no degree surprised to see his younger sister Joana. She had been in the military only for a few months now but she was already acting like she was an experienced general, at least when it came to mistreating her fellows.

"Lieutenant Commander Santos." He said and frowned.

"Oh, come on. Don´t be so grumpy. If there was one person to be grumpy it was me. Where the hell have been for the last three weeks?"

"I decided that it was better for me to work at day and sleep at night like a normal person, so I applied for a temporary transfer to the shifts during daytime."

"That´s all? Why didn´t you tell me? I was so worried about you. Did your little vacation at least lift your general mood a little bit?"

"Until I saw you, Yes. Now I´m back to my old self."

"Aww, you´re no fun."

"That job is not about fun. For me it´s about survival."

"Survival?" She asked slightly confused.

"I forgot to tell you when I first got into the coast guard. I´m not good at storytelling but I´ll try."

"Take all the time you need." She said in a slightly sarcastic manner.

"Well, after Mom and Dad broke up I decided to stay with the old man. You already know that but what you don´t know is that Dad died in an accident a few weeks before I finished school. I had to sell everything valuable we possessed in order to make it through the following weeks and every day the bill became harder to pay. To give you a little example of how poor I am right now: I´m living in a three-room house on the land and driving a Lada."

"Oh, Okay." She looked quite stunned at the moment. "Why didn´t you tell me? I could have helped you."

"Don´t come with that. You´re attitude towards me at that time was one of the reasons I decided to stay with dad. If I came running back for help you would have forced me to live a life in oppression."

"What? That´s nonsense!" She exclaimed slightly shocked at his attitude.

"Is it? Try thinking about it." He said and turned around walking into the direction of the coast guard central command building.

He stopped when she shouted after him:" TALKING TO YOUR SUPERIOIR LIKE THAT WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES."

He smilingly turned around and pointed at the patch that said "Guarda Costeira".

At the surveillance and navigation chamber he sat down at the radar and communications station to begin his nightly work.

"Having a bad night, huh?" Someone said while softly patting his head.

"You could say that." He replied without looking up from the radar screen.

After a few moments of silence Sergey asked:" Wanna talk about it? I mean, I can understand if you don´t but I think it´d help."

Louis turned stood up and looked at his friend´s face.

"There´s not much to say about it. Joana came into the military a few months ago and has already been promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. I in return have been working for the coast guards since I finished school and still am nothing more than a simple worker. She uses these circumstances to regularly mock me and what can I say except for it works? She´s been pissing me off with that since she entered the military."

"So that´s the reason you decided to transfer to the day shifts. You gotta thank me. When she realized that you weren´t there, she came to me but I remained silent."

"Thank you. You are a real friend. I can´t imagine what I would have done if she transferred to day shifts too. My superior was already pissed because of that one time and I don´t think he would´ve granted me another time."

"Life these days sure is hard. But I trust we´ll make it. We only have to be patient enough. Someone eventually will change things whether it´ll be peaceful or with violence."

"You´re right. But I´d be very happy if that happens during my lifetime. I doubt the world would recover from another 400 years of slavery."

Sergey laughed. "Let´s hope that doesn´t happen. Anyway, gotta go, have to keep an eye on the main reactor. See ya."

The door closed behind him and Louis was alone once again. He sighed and returned to his work.

He sat there taking calls and directing the ships that wanted to enter the bay of Lisbon. For hours it went like this, but around 8PM he got an more interesting call.

"This is Alfeite Maritime Navigation Tower, how can I help you?" He said as he took the call.

At first he could only hear static but then a few words came through.

"This is the USS … we are heavily … and in urgent need of repairs… requesting permission to dock at the …."

He took a look at the radar but he saw nothing that looked like an US warship.

"I need your location before I can give you an docking clearance."

"Positive, … located 50 nautical miles west of …"

"Alright, you are cleared to dock at pier 1-1, over and out."

After that conversation he took out his communicator and called the commander.

"What is it?" She asked bluntly.

"Sir, an US warship is going to dock at our base. They are heavily damaged and in urgent need of repairs. I think it´d be good if the engineers were ready once the ship arrives."

"Thank you for the information. We´ll have the engineers on standby as fast as possible."

He sighed and leaned back in his seat before readdressing his work. Now that an warship was heading their way he had to redirect the nautical traffic within the bay accordingly.

After an hour of redirecting ships and yachts he was finally done when something appeared on his radar that looked like a piece of scrap metal. Judging after its shape it was definitely scrap metal, the only problem was that it was way too big to be a piece of scrap metal.

He knew that somewhere near this position a surveillance camera was located that he could access from within his small chamber.

He turned to one of the screens beside him and typed in the location of the camera. What he saw next shocked him.

The massive ship entering the passage to the bay of Lisbon was nothing more than a moving torch with sailors standing on the side of the ship and trying to put out the fires, yet they constantly had to retreat.

Louis could just watch as the ship made its way into the bay of Lisbon and approached the pier of the base when he was distracted by a sudden call of the commander.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Santos, I need you out there right now. The ship probably has hundreds if not thousands of crew members and a lot of them will be injured. The military alone has not enough men to treat all of them in time so we need every man at our disposal out there right now."

"Understood." He said and ran out of his chamber.

Once he arrived at the pier he could already see some of the soldiers mooring the warship to the pier. Gigantic flames were reaching into the sky and a few corpses were floating through the water beside the ship. The firemen had already begun putting out the fires on the sides of the ship but it would take hours to extinguish every last flame on the ship.

"Santos, over here!" A familiar voice shouted. He turned to the source of the voice and spotted the commander treating an injured sailor.

"Take care of him. I need to search for the captain of this ship." She said and he just nodded, making his way to the injured soldier. The man was badly burned with parts of his face being completely scorched. Beside him lied a med-kit filled with medications for treating burn wounds.

He was pressing a cold compress on a part of the man that looked badly burned when a part of the ship blew up behind him and countless corpses were hurled through the air. One of those corpses landed right behind him.

At least he though it was a corpse until he heard something coughing behind him.

He turned around to look at another half-burned sailor who, to his surprise was still moving.

He watched in shock as the sailor stood up and slowly made his way towards his injured comrade.

"Hey, Hey, Hey! Easy man or do you want to get yourself killed?" He tried talking to the soldier but he just outright ignored him. He pulled a needle out of his pocket and injected the other soldier with something. The other soldier immediately started calming down to a point where his breath began to slow down and he looked more like a peaceful sleeper.

The other soldier turned around and looked at Louis.

"Why so worried, Soldier? I can hardly feel anything right now." The sailor said and smiled.

"But… just look at yourself. Half your face is charred."

"That has a simple reason. I have…"

"MAKE WAY, YOU FAGGOTS DOWN THERE." Someone shouted and the sailor just sighed in annoyance.

Louis turned to the source of the ship and had enough time to catch a glimpse of a man jumping from the ship´s railing and landing on his two feet right in front of it.

Immediately after that the man began to curse and started massaging his own foot.

The sailor immediately ran to him and Louis decided that it was best to go after him.

The sailor came to hold in front of the man and saluted.

"Are you alright, Captain?" He asked the man.

"I´m okay. It´s just a little-big bruise. But you should get a mirror as soon as you have the opportunity, Johnson. Oh, and maybe learn how to die properly on the way." He replied.

"Why does everyone tend to forget that I have leprosy."

"Leprosy?" Louis interrupted.

The captain didn´t look surprised and answered:" Yes, good ol´ Johnson here has leprosy. It almost got him killed a few times, but after the sixth time I made it compulsory for him to consult the doctor after every battle."

The man named Johnson frowned. "Don´t say you did count."

The captain just smiled and replied:" I count every time my crew members try to get themselves killed. Or why do you think does every squad leader has to write a complete summary of every mission we go on?"

Johnson frowned another time. "I knew you were a troubled person but I never have thought you´d take it that far."

"We´re all mentally ill. Most of us are just able to hide it better. And now shut up and help me get those corpses out of the water."

"Sir, the water is at best five degrees or so."

"Even better. It´ll help your burn wounds."

"It´s salt water."

"You have leprosy. Case closed."

They both headed off into the direction of the pier but the captain turned around to Louis and said:" What´s your name, soldier?"

"Louis, Louis Santos." He replied a bit confused. "A-and I'm working for the Coast Guard."

"Alright, Santos. Listen, our medical teams have established a place where our injured men will be put into compress bags. You gotta think of those as oversized compresses. Johnson and I will go fishing and you will bring these men to our medics no matter how dead they look to you, understood?"

"Yes, Sir." He replied and the Captain turned around trying to catch up to Johnson.

They both jumped into the water at once and began searching for the corpses.

After a few minutes the captain emerged from the water dragging two burned bodies with him.

The Captain lifted the bodies up on the pier and shouted:" That water´s cold as hell. How can you endure that kinda shit, Johnson?"

"Leprosy." Someone said from a little further out in the bay.

The Captain laughed and swam back into the bay, leaving Louis alone with the two bodies. He wasted no time and lifted one of the bodies onto his shoulder.

One of the medics waved him over as he spotted him carrying the soldier over the pier.

He put the soldier down and let the medics do their work.

As he returned to the spot where the other body was lying he discovered that Johnson had already brought two more onto the pier and that there were countless more out in the bay.

He sighed and picked up another body.

It went on like this for nearly an hour. Finally when he returned to the pile of bodies he saw Johnson and the Captain leaving the water.

"How many men were those?" Johnson asked.

"I dunno. Stopped counting at sixty. It was probably more than double of that." The Captain answered.

"Aren´t you concerned?" Louis asked.

"Of course I am. I just don´t let it prevent me from being happy. Now let´s get the rest of these men to the medics." The Captain answered and picked up two corpses at once while Johnson did the same.

After some time all of the corpses had been brought to the medics and put into the compress bags. Now it was time for the survivors to rally. One of the medics handed the captain a pad. He read through the lines several times before yelling:" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? THAT`S A CATASTROPHY!"

His outrage attracted several high-ranking Portuguese officers including the Commander and his Louis´s sister.

"Excuse, me but are the one in charge of this vessel?" The Commander asked.

"That I am." The Captain replied.

"I need you to come with me. You have a lot to explain." The Commander said.

The Captain looked at her for a second before denying:" Like I would leave my men alone under these circumstances. Listen, we have two-hundred-fifty-nine soldiers with third- or fourth-degree burns and half of them is threatening to cool below human body temperature and the only reason that they haven´t yet is because of Santos."

"Really? That wastrel?" Louis´s sister asked.

The Captain threw an angry glance at her and said:" That "wastrel" has saved a quarter of our crew and therefore assured that we can leave port in two to three days. I don´t know when you came into this bedlam but I´m sure I never saw you dragging any bodies to our medics."

"Watch your mouth." The Commander said.

"I won´t." The commander snarled. "If I heard right you spent the past hour looking for me, while I, Johnson and Santos save countless lives."

"Who is Johnson?" Joana asked.

"That walking piece of coal over there." The Captain replied and pointed at Johnson who meanwhile got an injection from the ship´s doctor.

"What happened to him?"

"He has leprosy. I could tell you the story how it got him killed about six times but now´s not the right time."

"If he has leprosy, why is he walking freely on the pier? The commander interjected.

"We´ve been successfully testing a self-reproducing antidote that infects the leprosy bacteria and stops them from reproducing. All the leprosy bacteria have died out and we´re working on restoring the damaged nerve system right now. He´ll be back to normal in three months give or take." The Captain replied.

"Seriously, you are a crazy person." A familiar voice said from behind.

"If I had a gram of TNT for every time I heard that I´d have enough power to blow up Fort Knox." The Captain fell silent when he stood face to face with Sergey.

"Seriously Vladimir, what took you so long?" The latter ranted though Louis could hear that it was more irony than real.

"Do you… know him?" Louis asked his friend.

"Of course I do. We were both street kids in Russia before we went our separate ways. I ended up in the Portuguese Coast Guards while he somehow got into the US Navy."

"How does a Russian come to join the American military?" Joana asked.

"Americans are not as stupid as some of you westerners might think. As a matter of fact, they are perfectly able to recognize talent." The Captain replied.

"I see. But you still have some questions to answer." The Commander interrupted them.

The Captain sighed and said:" I guess it can´t be helped. But I´d like Santos to come with us. He´s done much for us and I´d like to repay the favor as soon as possible." As soon as the Captain said "he" Joana threw an angry glance at Louis.

He just smiled at her and followed the Captain to the military command central.

Once they arrived the Commander slammed her hands on the table.

"I demand an explanation. What the hell were you doing out there?"

"I´ll do what I can without violating confidentiality protocols. Anything you want to know in particular?"

"Who are you and what happened to your ship?"

"We are an experimental warship that goes by the codename "Valkyrie". The aim of the project is to create an conventional military asset that's capable of standing up to an IS. We were tasked with conducting field tests in the Atlantic Ocean when we were attacked by unknown enemies. They severely damaged our ship and we were barely able to escape."

"Could you assign the attackers to any specific nation?"

"Their technology is unlike anything we or anyone else possesses. They have some kind of cloaking device that makes it impossible to track them via radar. This was also one the reasons they could damage us so severely. It also seems that their ship was especially designed for Anti-IS combat as they could repel all our attacks easily. Whoever they belong to understands their work. Anyway, that´s all for now. Can I go back to my men now?"

"You don´t want us to help or anything?"

"We need to keep this affair as regional as possible. If we manage to keep the knowledge of this conspiracy in the smallest possible circles we have higher chances of going undetected."

"And how are we going to do this after your spectacular arrival in our bay?"

"Well, you can either pretend it didn´t happen or that it was something like… I dunno… an art project. Something like that."

"There´s no way the public will believe that."

"There´s no way the US would be on good terms with you if you told your people the truth. Have a good day, I mean night. Santos, I think I wanted to talk to you."

The Captain walked out of the room but didn´t stop there. He dragged Louis all around the base until he found a lonely, dark corner.

He looked around several times to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them.

"Why so cautious?" Louis asked him.

"Because your life is going take an unexpected twist within the next few minutes. How that´s going to affect you is up to yourself."

"I have a bad feeling about this." He replied, half worried, half curios.

"You should be but only of you make the wrong choice. You see, we are actually part of a secret organization. Our goal is it to change the world."

"How do you want to do that?"

"Due to secrecy I can´t tell you everything but one thing is for sure: it will begin with the total destruction of the Lisbon District."

Louis gasped as he heard this. "Are you serious?"

"Serious as hell. Listen, I´m offering you membership in our organization to prevent you from dying alongside everyone in this city."

"This is genocide what you´re talking about. Give me one good reason why I shouldn´t report you right away."

The Captain just smiled. "I can give you even three. First: If you´d decide to run for it I would shoot you. Second: Even if you got away you would die in the following assault by our men. Third: Our Organization is the perfect place for people like you. We take any new member regardless of their skin color, gender or religious beliefs. You´ve been in the Coast Guard for three years now and you´re still a normal foot soldier while your sister has been here for merely three months and is already a high-ranking officer. Don´t you feel a little bit… neglected?"

"Now that you mention it…"

"You´ll be spared from this fate if you decide to join us. You won´t be an unwanted wastrel. Our men will treat you like one of their own as soon as you get to meet them properly. We also greatly value talent instead of compatibility scores."

"What talents do I have that´ll make me worthy of joining?" He asked slightly confused.

"Hm, lets see… You´re loyal, you don´t hesitate to fulfill orders and you´re willing to help everyone who needs to be helped. In a nutshell: The soldier any superior would wish to command."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"I have my contacts. So, what do you say? Do you want to become part of our organization or do you want to spend the rest of your life in loneliness?"

"I… I need a moment to consider."

"We don´t have a moment. Phase 1 will start in a few minutes and I need your decision, NOW!"

"Under these circumstances… What about taking a quick look and deciding if it´s worth it?"

"Out of question. I won´t lie to you. The road that lies ahead of you is long and hard. You´ll see things you never deemed possible, atrocities of unmatched cruelty. But consider the reward you´ll get. We don´t promise fame or glory. We promise freedom and luck. Freedom from the shackles of your society. Where we are heading is a place of unthinkable personal freedom. And you can contribute to the continuance of its existence. Consider this, we´re just here to help you. You don´t even have to kill for contributing to this."

After a moment of silent consideration he said:" Alright, I´ll do it."

The captain smiled and shook his hand. "Alright, Soldier, Welcome to the Red Star. We need to get you a uniform but that can wait. For now we can…"

He was cut off by a sudden call on his earpiece.

"Yeah what is it?"

"Captain, preparations have been made and we´re ready to begin with Phase 1."

"I´m on my way. Oh, and I´m bringing a newbie. Make sure he gets his uniform once we´re done."

"Aye, Aye Sir."

When the Captain noticed Louis´s clueless face he said:" I´ll explain everything on the ship, now get moving."

They made their through the corridors of the base and onto the pier. To his surprise they didn´t run into Joana or the Commander.

"What exactly is this Phase 1 you´re talking about?" Louis asked as they climbed the ship.

"I´ll tell you in the armory." The Captain said.

"Why're we going to the armory?" He asked, now even more clueless.

"We need to get you equipped for your next mission."

They stepped out onto the pier and when they both stood beside the ship, the Captain signalized one of the soldiers to let down a ladder.

The Wind blew stronger the higher they got and as they reached the first sidewalk he had to fight against the harsh breeze.

"How can you put up with such conditions?"

"Don´t worry. If you spent several weeks on the Atlantic sailing from Buenos Aires to Lisbon like us you´ll quickly get used to it. Now hurry up." The Captain said while making his way to the ship's bow.

Shortly before getting onto the side of the main batteries the captain took a sharp turn sideways and opened a door. Behind the massive steel door was a ladder that led into the ship. Once they both climbed down they stood before another steel gate which the Captain opened via fingerprint.

"Welcome to the armory." He said as he stepped into the gigantic room that stretched as far as he could see. "This room holds enough equipment and ammunition for 1570 soldiers and 59 tanks to fire at least a day without interruption.

The Captain called someone on his earpiece.

"Yeah, it´s me. We need you right now. We´re located at entrance B-S."

For a few minutes they waited in silence until eventually someone appeared between the pillars.

"Good Night, what makes you pay a visit to my beautiful ar- Oh, I see."

The Captain and the rather small person both hugged each other before turning to Louis and introducing him.

"Santos, meet Ferrarius. He´s the one in charge of our armory and its only full- time worker. If you need your weapon fixed, you go to him. If your armor software needs update, you go to him."

Ferrarius smiled like a boy that had been lauded for his work.

"To say only these things is an understatement of my capabilities. As a matter of fact I´m the one that keeps the all the infantry equipment here working. But let´s end the formalities and begin with work. I´ve never seen you around before. New recruit I guess."

Both the Captain and Louis nodded.

"Then I know what I have to do." Ferrarius said and disappeared between a pile of ammunition cases.

"Be a good man and wait here. I'll have to inspect the explosions section." The Captain said while walking off into the other direction.

While he waited for Ferrarius he decided to have a look around.

He stood right beside a pillar that was covered with small pistols which all had a magazine standing out from before the trigger. The magazine had an unusual width for something that was being used in a pistol. Calibers like that were normally used in rifles. He took one from its rack and inspected it.

"I see you found our machine-pistols." The Captain said.

"Well, they sure are interesting. Why are the magazines so wide?"

"Our machine-pistols are using rifle calibers. Due to the way they are built they have extremely high recoil and we use them if we need to get a large number of people killed in short time."

"I take it you don't regard civilian casualties."

"Only if we are ordered to. Anyway, here comes Ferrarius."

The small man appeared between the sparely lit pillars with a regular measurement tape and one that was meant for determine shoe size on his arms.

"Alright Santos, hold still. I need to take some measurements."

"While you´re doing this I can brief you on your first mission for the Red Star." The Captain said.

He pulled a little holoprojector out of his pocket and activated it. It showed the blueprints of a very familiar building.

"I take it you recognize that building."

"Yes, it´s the Coast Guard Building in this harbor." Louis replied. "I have a bad feeling about where this is going."

"Well, you´re going to plant remote charges at certain points in the building and we´ll blow them up once you´re out of range. Any questions?"

"Why don´t you just blow them up with your ship´s turrets? I think you have enough of them."

"The official explanation is because all the turrets are damaged. But that´s a lie. The real reason is that we need to these to destroy the other ships in the harbor. After that we immediately need to unloose the ship in order not to get boarded. By inflicting a little more chaos we can prevent to soldiers and coast guard members from reorganizing too fast. Oh, and please hurry up. Phase 2 will be initiated in an hour. By that time we have to be out on the sea. Now, do you have any moral issues?"

"Of course I do." He replied promptly. "It feels bad to betray the people I´ve been working with for seven years now, especially Sergey How do you feel about betraying a person you know since your childhood?"

The captain sighed.

"If there´s one thing I´ve learned then it is that I never should let my emotions stand in the way of getting my job done. Sure, Sergey is a good person but orders are orders after all and this operation is too important to fail. If only one piece of that base survives the explosion, thousands of our men will die. Here, take the projector and the backpack with the explosives." He spoke while handing him over said things.

"Alright, measurements are done." Ferrarius said at the same time.

"What are you going to do with them?" Louis asked him.

"I´m sending the measurements to one of our supply manufactures in Austria. They´ll provide you with a hand-made uniform."

"Is that standard procedure for every new recruit?"

"Yes, but since it´s all made from stolen materials we never have to worry about the costs if that´s what you want to know."

Louis nodded and left the armory.

When he hit the pier he was greeted by the angry voice of the commander.

"Santos, where the hell have you been so long? And why are you carrying a backpack and a holoprojector?"

Louis didn´t knew what to say for a moment until the Commander took the holoprojector out of his hand and activated it.

To his surprise the projector didn´t show the Coast Guard Building with the points where he had to deploy the bombs but rather a simple compass.

"Where´d you get this?" She asked him.

"Uh… err. The Captain gave it to me alongside that backpack full of supplies. I told him how hard my life is right now and he… uh… he wanted to thank me properly for saving quarter of his crew."

"I see. I have to work so I´ll leave you alone for now. Make sure to get back to your post in time." She said and gave back to projector.

While she walked away Louis looked at the ship and saw the commander leaning against the railing with a big smile on his face.

Louis nodded at him and made his way back to the surveillance room.

Upon arrival he put the projector on the table and began studying the locations of where the bombs had to be put.

It took him another seven minutes to mentally convince himself that it was right what he was about to do. While leaving the room he prayed to not run into Sergey while he was on his mission. He wouldn't be able to confront his friend about this matter.

The first station was the central ventilation. Quietly he waited until he was sure that no one would be entering this room in the immediate future and then he began his work.

A few minutes later the charge was safely stored away within one of the shafts so that no one could reach it even if he detected the charge.

He opened the door a to a little bit so he could see of anyone was nearby. To his luck he neither saw nor heard somebody. Sighing in relief he stepped out od the room and made his way to the next location.

The next place was a sparely lit corner at the end of a corridor. Though the corridor was pretty dark the charge had some glowing parts so just putting it on the ceiling was out of question.

He nervously wandered around the place for a few minutes until he tripped on a loose tile in the ground. When trying to remove it he found out that it could be removed without problems.

Sighing in relieve once more he put the charge in the hole underneath the tile and put it back on.

The following seven locations were the same as before and in all corners, there were structural damages that allowed him to hide the charges from the curious gazes of the personnel.

Whoever had marked the locations knew how to do his work. On his way to the ninth and last location, the main reactor, he began wondering about whether it was pure coincidence or there was another mole working for the Red Star. There was only one more person that would fit for a mole of an organization what was against IS and that was Sergey.

But he couldn´t imagine a person like him working for such an organization. Sergey had always been friendly to almost everybody around him no matter how they treated him. He recently also had begun to meet with a woman from the coast guard with whom he ran daily reactor checks and improvements. From what Louis had heard both of them got along with each other very good. If Sergey really liked her he wouldn´t have provided these blueprints to the Red Star.

The only other person he would at least deem capable of this treason was his sister. She had been hungry for success ever since she joined the military and she wouldn´t hesitate one second to take the offer if she knew that she could get something out of it for herself.

He almost bumped against the door of the reactor room but his luck the door was pushed open and Sergey stepped out of the room.

"Ah, Louis. It´s good that you´re here. Would you watch the reactor´s stats while I´m taking a piss? Thank you." He just said and left Louis standing alone.

Louis could just stare after him as he realized his incredible luck. With an inward cheer he entered the reactor room and looked around for a place to hide the charge.

After searching around for a bit he finally found a favorable spot underneath a gas canister.

He sighed and left the room only to saw himself confronted by Joana.

"What are you doing here, brat?" She asked in a harsh voice.

"Uh… I err… I was just checking in on Sergey…. He err. He doesn´t seem well at the moment."

"So you were just talking to him? That´s a surprise because a few minutes ago I saw him running to the toilet."

"Yeah… Uh… So… What to it? Someone had to check on the reactor stats."

"I know exactly that you´re not fit for this kind of work. You´ve been doing something in there that you don´t want to know anybody about."

She pushed him aside and prepared to enter the room but before she could do so he exclaimed:" I´ve gotta show you something."

"What is it?" She muttered and turned around only to be hit on the face by a holoprojector.

She fell to the ground, holding the spot where he had hit here while Louis picked up the projector and rapidly turned around.

Upon turning around the corner he heard the alarm going off and saw the corridors turning red at the sudden light up of the alarm lights.

"Attention, there´s a rogue coast guard member in the basement. He must be stopped under all circumstances, I repeat under all circumstances." The commander shouted through the announcer.

Now Louis began to run. As he arrived in the ground floor he had to discover that the main entrance had been locked so he ran upstairs.

Sadly, all the windows on the floor had been locked too and as he tried to get to another floor he saw himself confronted with a large number of weaponized coast guard members.

It didn´t took long until his field of movement was reduced to one corridor.

Desperately he thought of an way to escape but there seemed to be no mean to achieve this.

When one of the coast guard members charged at him he threw his backpack into her face.

Upon her collision he heard a metallic sound.

As he opened his back in hurry he found a last charge that had he hadn´t planted yet.

Now he knew how to escape.

He took the charge and set its timer to three seconds and threw it at the window behind him.

He then charged forward and shouted:" GRENADE!" While he took the holoprojector and made it look like he was going to throw it.

All the coast guards threw themselves on the ground in anticipation of the explosion and a few moments after it happened they got up again. Miraculously, none of the had got hurt but as they tried to charger after the guy who had thrown the grenade all they could see was a big hole in the building´s walls.

Meanwhile outside the building Louis was taking a last look back at what had been his second home for the last three years. Now he was going to leave it all behind. He wouldn´t miss the others but perhaps Sergey. Though it would be difficult at first, he would quickly forget him when he was among the people that felt and thought like him.

He turned around and began to run when a sudden burning pain in his shoulder brought him to fall.

A second after that, an explosion ripped the coast guard building apart and he could hear how the ship's guns were making short work of the Portuguese ships in the harbor.

When he turned to the building he saw Joana standing, her pistol drawn and aiming at him.

As she came closer he threw the holoprojector another time but this time she dodged and even managed to catch it.

When she stood right above him she threw the holoprojector in his face and began to cry:" Why did you do this? After all we´ve done for you. How could you just turn your back on us?"

"Neither you nor any other except for Sergey and Dad have ever done anything for me. You´re just some overconfident girl that's after success."

At that she kicked him and fired a shot that hit the ground right beside his head.

"Hold still, while I´m trying to execute you. It´s what I would do and what the Commander would have done."

"As if I would." He replied and rolled away from the next shot she fired.

It went on like this for several moments until she decided to put her boot on his chest to stop him from rolling around.

"Say goodbye, big brother." She hissed as she loaded another magazine into her gun and aimed it at Louis´s head.

However, before she could end his life she was hit into the side by Sergey who, after a short period of wrangling stabbed her in the throat.

"Are you alright, my friend?" He asked Louis while reaching out with his hand.

"Nothing bad. I still can walk. What about you? Shouldn´t you have been killed by the explosion?" He said while looking at his bleeding sister.

"I jumped out the window as soon as I heard the alerts. It seems my decision was right."

"Your decision? Does that mean you´re working for them too?"

"There´s no time for that right now." Sergey noted and pointed out to a few coast guard members who had survived the explosion and were now firing at them.

Louis took Sergey´s hand to find himself standing within moments and running to the ship.

The warship meanwhile had already begun moving forward and its middle section was about to pass the end of the pier.

"I don´t think we can make it." Louis shouted as he and Sergey ran over the small pier.

"We´ll never know if we don´t try." His friend replied while the bullets where missing their heads only by centimeters.

"Like you can talk." Louis yelled back. "And even if we reach the ship in time. How do we get onboard?"

"Vladimir is a very smart man. He won´t have left this possibility unconsidered."

In fact they were able to reach the pier´s end before the ship and now they were standing before an unstoppable giant without a possibility to get onboard while the bullets sought to penetrate their heads.

Suddenly he heard someone call out from above.

As he looked he saw that the Captain had found a net-like ladder and had attached it to the railing.

Sergey was the first to jump. At this moment time seemed to have stopped. Louis saw his friend flying over the water on slow-motion. It looked like he was going to miss the ladder but he managed to grab on to the lowest part and pull himself up.

"Now it´s your turn, my friend." He shouted.

Louis looked around again and spotted the massive propeller at the ship´s stern closing in. If he´d miss he would be shredded to pieces.

There´s no time for doubts." Sergey shouted and reached out with his hand.

Louis looked at him before taking a deep breath, took a start and jumped off the pier.

Time began to move by more slowly again, only that it was now his turn to be in the air. He saw the smooth waves in the water and his own distorted figure reflected in them.

He reached out for the ladder but to his horror he sunk out of range before he could grab onto it.

Just as he deemed his life ended someone grabbed his hand and lifted him up.

He looked up and saw Sergey smiling. Sergey had entangled his foot in between the meshes of the net to be able to reach down further.

"Vladimir, pull us up. I don´t know for how long I can hold him." He shouted.

"Sorry, I´m too busy shooting coast guard members and soldiers. LMG, MOUNTED AND LOADED!" The Captain shouted while unleashing a deadly rain off bullets on the soldiers on the pier.

After a few minutes all the soldiers had been cut down or retreated and the Captain began pulling the two up.

When the both of them hit the deck they first stared at each other, still a little bit unsure if what had happened was real. Then the Captain broke into laughter and the two followed

"Boys, that was absolutely AWESOME!" He exclaimed. "We gotta do this again sometime in the future."

"I think it´s enough for this year." Sergey replied laughingly. "Anyway, would you be so kind and leave us alone? I have some explaining to do."

"Of course, Of course. Internal affairs first. But you´ll have to report to the bridge once you´re done." The Captain said while picking up his machine gun and making his way to the armory.

Sergey meanwhile stood up and leaned against the railing.

"So, how long have you been working for them now?" Louis asked him.

"Since I got here. I also was the one that put you up for recruitment."

"Now it makes sense. You were also the one that damaged these tiles, weren´t you?"

"Indeed."

"And what about that woman you´ve been working with more lately?"

"Oh, just some random coast guard member. I tricked her into helping me to adjust the reactor so that it makes more boom when it gets blown up."

"Hm, I guess I owe you for putting me up for recruitment. If I hadn´t gotten the offer they would have killed me."

"Being able to spend another day with my friend is enough reward." He said and smiled. "Anyway, we should report to Vladimir as soon as possible."

Smilingly, Louis followed his friend while the ship passed under the Lisbon Bay Bridge.

On the bridge Vladimir was looking at a holographic projection of the Iberian Peninsula. There were three red dots on the map, one at Lisbon, one at Madrid and one at Andorra. All of them were connected through a line but the line didn´t stop at Andorra and instead extended further north until it reached the edge of the projection.

When he heard the both enter he murmured something of "forward divisions" and turned around, turning off the projector in the process.

"Reporting for duty." Sergey announced.

"Punctual as always. I like that." Vladimir said. "There´s two things I wanted to ask of you. First: You´re separated from your division right now. If you don´t return in time they might deem you as missing. And as you know the council takes missing members very serious. So do you want to take the risk of causing trouble or do you take the risk of running through the streets with half the law enforcement on your heels?"

"Can´t we just contact them?" Sergey asked him.

"Sadly, we can´t. Any communication from or into the city is being tracked and revealing your division by doing so wouldn´t be exactly a smart move."

"I think I´ll take the risk of going in with the third wave."

For a short moment Vladimir fell silent but then said:" I can arrange that. Just make sure you don´t get killed. Okay, second question: Why didn´t we encounter any IS until now?"

"Portugal only possesses one RDIS and it´s currently stationed in Aveleda. By the time it arrives here we´re long gone."

"Really? That´s on the other side of the country. Who would come on such a stupid idea?"

"It´s where the headquarters of Portugal´s federal police are. The RDIS is part of them so it isn´t that stupid."

"I see. Alright, that´s all for now. See you around."

"Sir, Yes, Sir." Sergey answered.

Before they could leave however, a call for the captain drew their attention.

"This is SSC Suez of the _Celestial Aquamarine_ calling the _Gamma Velóna_. What´s your status?"

"We are in the process of leaving the Bay of Lisbon. Phase 1 is complete, all the buildings in Alfeite are destroyed. We are ready to proceed with Phase 2."

"Confirmed, preparing launch of drone squadrons and connecting to the Fleet-Net and hacked networks.

The line went silent and after a few moments another holographic projection popped up on the projector, this time showing a red, four-pointed Star on white ground, sitting enthroned on top of three dark-blue waves stacked on one another.

After a few more moments a person appeared on screen.

It was a young man, probably in his twenties right now. He was clad in the same uniform he had seen sailors wearing all over the ship. The only thing that made him distinct from the soldiers was the fact that he was wearing an admiral´s hat.

Louis shivered a bit as he began to speak. It was the same voice as the one that had called Vladimir.

"Citizens of this Earth. Upon hearing this message for the first time you might be afraid. You might fear for your life or that of your loved ones. I can assure you that, as long as you don´t live in the imperialist countries that are pushing their IS-research to the limit, you are completely out of danger. For eleven years now a weapon of unimaginable power has held the world in its grip. Those that control these weapon have used it to bring their nations great wealth and prosperity but many of them have never considered the price. Hundreds of already died at the costs of IS research and development, thousands were ruined their lives and hundreds of thousands more might follow if this doesn´t stop. We watched for nearly a decade now and as there is no government that acts we have decided to take matters into our own hands. We will crush the countries that threaten the lives of their people and here, in Lisbon, our crusade shall begin. Who are we? We are the Red Star and we are sick of watching."

After the screen went black, the bridge was filled with silence until Vladimir clapped his hands and said:" That was impressive, wasn´t it? Anyway, you know the plan. Get in line and wait until Phase 3 starts. Sergey, Louis, you should head to the lower half of the ship and gear up. As much as I'd like to keep Louis here, our naval training is a little bit different from that of the Portuguese and training you isn't possible at the time. So I´m afraid you´ll have go with Sergey and his division."

"So, is there anything else you haven't told me?" Louis asked his friend while they were walking over the sidewalk of the ship, heading to the ship´s stern.

"Nope, I think that's all for now. But you´re really gonna like these guys. They are the First Forward Special Forces Division, callsign: Fado. Right now they should be headed to the basement of a estate we have rented. I just hope they are alright. They robbed ten ski shops in the hour before that."

"Why ski shops?" Louis wanted to ask but he was cut off by the first bomb ever to be dropped on Lisbon.

When the first bomb hit the ground Maria almost dropped her mug.

"What the hell?" She exclaimed when she heard the loud bang and saw the fireball rising into the sky.

It had only been a few moments since the broadcast had ended and now the city was already under attack. It to do something with the ship that had left the harbor a few minutes before.

"All Units. This is a city-wide announcement. Every single one of you is to drive to the parliamentary building and provide protection to the president, immediately!"

"You heard her." Dario said and stepped on the gas.

After a few minutes of driving through the streets of the city, that became more chaotic with every minute they stood before the gates of the Portuguese Parliament.

"Hey, Lopez, Maria." Someone shouted.

They both turned around and stood face to face with police commissioner Mariana.

Behind her stood a giant police truck alongside other female police officers.

"Is this what I think it is?" Maria asked upon closer inspecting the truck.

"Depends on what you think it is." Mariana answered.

"It suspiciously looks like a truck designed for transporting IS in their inactive form."

"You´re right. Now there´s the following: these IS were brought to defend the city. The only problem is that they were undergoing a major refit while the attack started. We couldn´t afford leaving them in the workshop so we bailed them out. Now the long-range sensors are missing and the only thing the pilot can relate on is her optical vision which is a bad thing to do at night. Therefore, we need two pilots. One piloting the IS and the other taking a look on the radar and advising the pilot. Are you up to the challenge?"

Both of them nodded and turned to the IS that were unloaded.

The IS brought to the Parliament were mass produced frames of the type "Corvo Branco". It was designed for mid-range combat and melee. For that reason it was fitted with a semi-automatic plasma rifle, a deployable kinetic barrier that was able to deter melee attacks, a shotgun and a baton that, on one side, had a plasma blade.

Maria jumped into the frame and activated the IS. He field of vision began to expand and she could hear anything in a radius of ten meters perfectly. Only her sensors weren´t reacting.

She saw Dario entering the building and a few minutes later he established a communications channel to her.

"Are you ready to kick some ass?" He asked her.

"As ready as ever." She answered.

"The bombers are about to fly over the parliament. We´re safe and sound down here but maybe you should get flying before they bomb the rest of the city to shit."

"Understood. Brief me once the readings are in." She said and ascended into the dark sky alongside the other police officers.

The bombers had noticed them without a doubt when they rose into the sky right in front of them and above the clouds but still carried on with their duty.

When they finally came to hold above the clouds Dario started his briefing.

"The attack has larger dimensions than we assumed it had. I can read about 20 bomber formations in Lisbon airspace. We are still waiting for reinforcements but it may need time as we are basically under attack everywhere. For now all I can do is warning you if anyone tries to… wait, something´s changing… They are speeding up their attacks! In a few hours there will be nothing left than rubble."

"Then I´ll know what I have to do." She answered determined and began chasing after the next bomber.

As soon as the pilot realized that he was being targeted broke off from the rest of his squadron and began diving into the direction of the city while his colleagues continued the attack without him.

Just as the pilot was about to fly into the ground he pulled his plane up again and continued flying in an horizontal angle.

She fired a shot out of her shotgun and, with its wings perforated, the bomber went down

Just after that she was hit by a salvo of bullets.

She looked up and saw another bomber that was now right above her and unloading his deadly cargo.

Her shields didn´t even drop a bit when she was hit by several hundred kilos of bombs and accelerated upwards activating her baton and turning the plasma blade at the bomber.

However, to her shock, the bomber didn´t take any damage and instead began glowing while her shield energy began to drop rapidly.

She drew back her blade and prepared for another assault, this time with the blunt side of the baton.

This time she was able to inflict a huge dent but it still wasn´t enough to bring the bomber down so she decided to stick with the shotgun.

Just as she brought down the bomber she was hit in the back by something that nearly struck her out of the sky.

After she regained control of her IS she looked around and spotted a bomber with badly damaged nose flying away from her.

She growled and began pursuing the bomber that began shooting bullets from its aft which, of course, did little to no damage to her shield.

The other bomber pilot seemed to have learned from the mistakes of his fellows and began accelerating to a speed she didn´t thought a vehicle of this size was able to fly.

When he was already out of range the pilot turned his plane around and Maria realized what he was about to do.

The Bomber had two Gatling guns mounted at the end of its wings. Though they were conventional weapons they could pose a serious threats to IS without core and, provided there was enough of them, even to IS with core.

With a sound that reminded her more of a saw than of a gun the bomber began raining tons of bullets down on her.

She accelerated downwards and hoped that she could find some cover in the streets but when she hid behind a fairly damaged building and the pilot lost sight of her, he just fired a few more missiles that were attached to his wings. In fact, it was hard to see the whole wing as it was practically littered with missiles.

The building she had hid behind was reduced to rubble and she had to find a new place to hide. She decided to outrun the bomber, by conducting maneuvers that were very hard for a jet fighter and almost impossible for a bomber.

Despite its heavy armament the bomber was as agile as a jet fighter and could keep up with her rapid evasion movements without a problem. Who- or whatever it was flown by had to be an excellent pilot.

To her luck, the bomber was hit by an oversized shotgun blast and went tumbling down, only seconds after she had ascended into the sky.

She had almost forgotten about the other police officers trying to protect the city.

The one that had taken out the bomber just nodded to her and continued her work of chasing down another bomber.

Just as she wanted to continue she was interrupted by Dario.

"Maria, I don´t like the readings I´m getting."

"What is it?"

"Well, there´s good news and two bad news. The good news is that you have taken out about 4 of the twenty formations and the others are retreating. The first bad news is that the city is completely bombed to shit. Rebuilding all this may take months or even years. The second bad news is that something is approaching your position with high speed. I can´t get any accurate readings as the objects are still up in the stratosphere, maybe you should head up there so I can figure out what we´re dealing with.

"Understood." She said and turned her eyes towards the stars.

However as she raced through the sky she quickly realized that these weren´t stars but in fact another flotilla of assault planes.

"We´re in sensor range. Stay there as long as possible until I have figured out how many we are dealing with." Dario said.

For a few moments she just floated in the skies when Dario announced what he had found out.

"I can read about 40 Jet fighter-squadrons of unknown classification. They seemed to have approached this place by flying through the thermosphere. It´s the only possible explanation for why we couldn´t detect them earlier."

Maria activated her kinetic barrier and prepared for the battle...

While the battle in the skies of Lisbon raged on, Second SSC Michael Suez stood on the bridge of his personal flagship just 20 nautical miles off the coast of Portugal.

"It looks like they have caught the bait." He smiled sadistically while he said that.

"Skipper! Open a fleet-wide channel. I want all ships reporting in."

"Aye, Aye, Sir." The skipper said and began his work.

"Destroyer Fleet Tsunami, reporting in."

Corvette Fleet Leviathan, reporting in."

"Frigate Fleet Ghost, reporting in."

"Cruiser Fleet Enigma, reporting in."

"U-Fleet Burning Star, reporting in."

"Battleship Fleet Glacier, reporting in."

"Dreadnought Fleet Wolfpack, reporting in."

"H-Carrier Storm, reporting in."

"J-Carrier Sky Conqueror reporting in."

"U-Carrier Spearhead, reporting in."

"Sir, All Battlegroups reporting in."

"Very well. Begin with Phase 3."

As he said that he couldn´t help but again smile sadistically. Whatever the Portuguese were thinking right now, they would never know what hit them.

* * *

Second SSC Joseph Blackburn tried to hold the food inside his stomach when the combined stink of vomit and rotten flesh crawled into his nose.

A few moments ago he had crossed ways with two soldiers, one of which seemed sick.

When he had asked what had happened his partner just answered:" He´s seen some real shit, Sir."

Now he was looking upon a corpse that was being disassembled by a family of rats and a puddle of vomit right beside the corpse.

"Should´ve brought a gasmask." He thought to himself.

He walked out of the narrow walkway that was located between two completely destroyed buildings and stepped onto the street.

The bombardment had destroyed a large potion of the infrastructure and the following ground battle had destroyed what was left of it.

Now it looked more like an earthquake had paid the place a visit.

"Oy, Sir, could you please step aside?"

He turned around and saw a tank trying to maneuver through the streets that weren´t blocked by rubble and at this time he seemed to block its only way forward.

He stepped aside and asked the soldier on top of the tank:" I´m looking for the forward command central Monsanto? Any clue where it is?"

"Hey, Louis. Stop the tank for a bit."

The tank halted and the soldier looked around before saying:" Monsanto is about thirteen clicks east of here. Just go to the large road south of here and follow it all they way east until you come to a hill that´s covered with more trees than the others. If you get to the first bridge on that hill you have to turn north and walk until you come to something that once was a roundabout traffic and then you go north-east. You will eventually reach an avenue and at its end there will be a dome-like building. This is where we have set up our base of operations."

"Thank you." Joseph said and pulled out his compass while the tank continued making its way through what was once the capital of Portugal.

The soldier hadn´t lied to him and after a short walk southward he stood on a highway that led directly to the east.

Smilingly he made his way past the countless burned and crashed cars on the highway. He noticed that many of them still had passengers which had been killed sometime during the landing. They either were shot or splattered over the inside of the exploded cars. He also noticed some body parts lying around here and there.

"I´ll have to remind the Spec Ops Council of giving out the orders to collect and burn the corpses. Maybe the members of the Air Force and Navy could help too." He thought to himself.

The scenery changed a few times. One moment he would the street surrounded by burned woods and in the next by things that hardly looked like buildings.

He eventually came to a hill but it had as good as zero trees on it, so he decided to continue walking.

Next, he passed a number of buildings that were taller than the others but looked just as broken. It seemed that those had been skyscrapers before. Now it was just a pile of burned rubble.

Joseph shuddered at the thought what the bomb nicknamed "Yellowstone" could have done to the city. There would be most likely nothing left of the city as the smallest amount of explosion energy they had gotten during the simulations had been at a horrific 100 Megatons. However, at the time there existed only one prototype of the bomb and the Supreme Commander had ordered that it was to be kept in the safest bunkers they had and it would only be used if the Motherland was successfully attacked by an IS or a nuclear warhead which, at this point, was near impossible.

And even if the Motherland was struck by a warhead or IS, it was more likely that the Supreme Commander would order orbital strikes or go on a verbal rampage at the UN.

Slightly relieved, he approached a hill that had more trees and less buildings the further he walked. He eventually came to hold in front of a bridge and as he climbed up the dirt wall the bridge was extending from, he could see a roundabout traffic.

Once he stood at its center he took out his compass and followed the street that went north-east.

After a bit more walking he came to, what looked suspiciously like an avenue with a building at its end.

While he had met almost no soldiers on the highway that had been almost fifteen kilometers long, this little settlement was crowded with soldiers and military equipment of all kind.

At the end of the street was a building that had a massive steel gate in front of it.

"Second SSC Blackburn. I´m here to see the Spec Ops Council." He said to the soldier in front of the gate.

"Of course, Sir. Follow me." The soldier said and led him away from the steel gate to a more inconspicuous side door.

"Please look into the scanner for a second."

After he had provided his identification via iris-scan he heard the door unlock from the other side. The soldier took a look around and made sure that no one was watching. Then he pushed Joseph inside and made sure to close the door as fast and as silent as possible.

Once inside, he could see the reason he didn´t enter through the main gate. The forecourt was covered with a giant screen in order to hide a giant Gatling gun that was directly pointed at the gate.

He nodded approvingly and entered the lobby of the building. Once he entered the lobby he saw something he hadn´t seen since he entered the Portuguese mainland (which was like three hours ago): An interior that was free of corpses and blood splatters and that had an intact ceiling.

Now he knew why the Spec Ops Council had called him here. The building had been spared from bombardment and they had somehow managed to take it without force.

"READY!" He heard someone shouting from the outside.

He ran to the next window he could find and stared into the yard.

In the yard stood five police officers in a line everyone with their eyes covered.

"AIM!" Now he spotted another line of men, this time soldiers of the Red Star, their guns aimed at the police officers and ready to fire.

"FIRE!"

The bangs occurred simultaneously and he had no way of determining which of the officers went down first.

"What are we going to do with the corpses?" One of the soldiers asked his superior.

"Let them be where they are right now. The next group shall see what awaits them." He shouted out the window.

The soldier turned into his direction, a little bit startled but as he spotted him he yelled back:" I´d like to do that but that was the last one. So what do we do? It´s your call."

He thought for a moment and then said:" Stack them on the field outside that building and do so with every other corpse we have left."

"Aye, Aye, Sir. Oh, and in case you´re searchin´ for the council: They´re on the roof of the main building which you are in right now. You just have to find some stairs."

He nodded and began searching for some stairs.

After a while he found a way upwards and soon stood under a small cupola that had been reduced to its steel skeleton and on this way was providing an astonishing view of the surrounding area.

He could see as far as the southern shore of Lisbon where they were still fighting against the scattered remains of the Portuguese military.

Thanks to the area having been cut off from the energy supply it was pretty easy to determine where to fighters were located as there were no lights to pollute the night sky.

"SURPRISE!"

Three persons came out from behind the holodesk in the middle of the room and it was all so sudden that he couldn´t help but fall over.

The three men laughed at that and one of the stepped over and offered him a hand.

"Let me help you, buddy." He couldn´t identify them before as it was to dark to see properly see anything but now that only one of them was talking at a time he could recognize the voice without problem.

"Armin!" He exclaimed part confused, part glad.

"Wie er leibt und lebt." Armin Rommel said and laughed.

"But… I don´t understand. I was supposed to meet the Spec Ops Council and not you, guys."

"The Spec Ops Council has more important duties at this time." An unrecognizable, yet familiar voice said.

He turned around a saw a shadowy person, with only the outlines determining where it began and ended.

"Are you who I think you are?" He asked hesitantly.

"There´s a problem with the holographic transmitters. Replacement parts are rare so we won´t be able to fix it until next month. But it won´t bother you as this is the last call I will make before the completion of Operation LV." The Supreme Commander answered.

"It´s a relief to see you, Sir."

"Same for you." The commander said with his distorted voice while walking to the opposite end of the holodesk.

"So, anybody wanna admit some atrocities they have committed on the way?"

Suddenly an ominous silence began to fill the room and all the council members looked to the ground knowingly avoiding eye contact until Ivan Sokolov, the second SSC of the Air Force spoke up:" I might have accidentally ordered an air strike on a hospital."

The shadow leaned back as if it was trying to express disgust and turned to Michael Suez, the second SSC of the Navy:" And what about you, my dear Michael?"

"The only thing I did was shooting at anything that was threatening Ivan's men. It was mostly IS and buildings. Oh, and I may have given the order to fill one of our short-range warheads with mustard gas."

The shadow only gave a short approving nod before turning to Armin Rommel, the first SSC of the ground forces.

"Anything you want to admit, Armin?"

"This is merely a courtesy visit. If I'd wanted I could´ve stayed home."

"You´re hurting me Armin, you know that?"

Armin chuckled and said:" I'll be nicer next time. Promise."

The shadow backed away from Armin and finally turned to Joseph.

"Don´t even ask." Joseph said. "I´ll spare you the details. Short form is: I gave the order to shoot enemies, I gave the order to shoot wounded enemies, I gave the order to shoot surrendering enemies, I gave the order to shot civilians, I gave the order to shoot wounded civilians and I gave the order to shoot surrendering civilians. Is that enough for the start?"

All the other Council members nodded approvingly and Armin said:" Your confession can fall away this time, Sir. After all, you made it a long time ago."

"When exactly if I shall ask?" He seemed a bit confused.

"When you gave us the order to prepare for that crazy genocide."

"Ah, yes. I completely forgot about that." He said a bit resigned. "Anyway, let´s stop with the shenanigans and get serious. I have called you all here because this may be the last time we see each other alive. In a few minutes you´re all going to be the most wanted persons on earth."

"Why that?" All of them asked simultaneously.

The Supreme Commander facepalmed.

"Because you idiots managed to kill more than five million people within less than an hour. Do I have to mention that those weren´t only Portuguese but also tourists from all over the world?"

"9/11: The Sequel. Da Da Daaaaaaam." Armin tried to sound like a professional advertisement speaker but it only drew the laughs of his colleagues on him.

The Supreme Commander nodded in approval and continued to speak:" The only person that might be higher on the bounty list than you guys will be me, because I´m leader of that pack. Furthermore, I've taken a look at your achievements so far and I have to say, I'm impressed. The Portuguese are overwhelmed and I'm sure that they won't pose a great threat for the rest of the war."

"Did you expect anything else?" Armin asked prideful.

"Not really." The Supreme Commander replied. "Anyway, I have two more things for you. First: News from your favorite branch-hopper."

"General Frost?" Armin asked excitedly.

"Exactly that one."

"Well, what is the news?" Michael interrupted.

"He did something crazy, that´s for sure."

"Don´t let us wait. Just tell us." Ivan urged him.

"He gassed himself."

For a few moments the room was silent until Joseph came up with the right question:" You´re kidding, right?"

"It´s the truth." The Supreme Commander shrugged with his shoulders

After a second he clapped his hands. "But it wouldn´t be Frost if he hadn´t survived."

The room was filled with a sigh of relief and the Supreme Commander added:" And on top of that he managed to take out two top-class IS pilots and get an recruitment offer from Phantom Task."

"That´s the Frost we know." Joseph almost sounded a bit proud.

"Indeed. As for the second thing. It's a failsafe in case the situation begins to look like the Western Front in 1915. Invasion plans á la Rommel."

"Let's just hope it isn't like Operation Yednist." Joseph said sarcastically as he knew what it meant to receive plans from Armin.

"Got bad experiences with warfare in Ukraine, don't you?" Armin chuckled. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm the greenie from back then."

"I thoroughly hope that." Joseph replied.

"Before you jump to conclusions however, you should take a look at the plan." Armin said, handing a data pad to each person that wasn't a broken hologram.

Joseph read through the lines and looked at the pictures a few times before saying:" This doesn't look so bad… In fact, it could even work."

"See?" Armin smiled triumphantly. "Told 'ya."

"Well, that's settled then." The Supreme Commander spoke. "Are there any other points you may want to bring up?"

Everyone just looked at each other and the Supreme Commander stated the obvious:" Then this meeting is concluded."

The hologram dissolved into thousands of little particles that were floating aimlessly through the air before disappearing as well.

"So, what's the plan?" Joseph asked while they packed the data pads into their vest pockets

"We'll have to go back to the fleet to see if the Admiralty Council will approve this plan. If not, we can just shove it down their throat, but I hope that we won't have to go to such lengths." Michael said.

"You, Joseph." Armin continued. "Should go see the spec ops council, I'm sure they're waiting for you."

"Yeah, I think I should do that. See you all."

As he descended down the stairs, he pulled out his communicator and called Irina's number.

"Is that you, Joseph?" She asked infuriated. "Where are you?"

"Sorry, the Council decided to switch out the meet-up coordinates. Give me your position and I'll be on the way."

"Very well. We´re located at the northern end of the Bridge of the 25. April. Now hurry up."

"On my way." He said and put the communicator back in his vest.

He then rushed out of the building and onto the street.

"I need a transport to the Bridge of the 25. April, now!" He shouted to the surrounding soldiers.

"Our tank is parking on the highway down the street, Sir. Requesting permission to take you aboard." One soldier who had been talking to a guard said.

"Permission granted. Now hurry up." He said and followed the soldier all the way back to the highway and the small bridge there.

When they arrived he immediately recognized the tank. It was the one he had seen in the streets of Lisbon before.

The soldier slammed his fist against the steel door in the back of the tank and shouted:" Sergey, go wake up Louis. We have a special guest."

A few moments later the door was opened and both of them entered the tank.

Inside, the soldier was greeted by his superior and, after a short talk, took his rifle and sat down at one of the little gaps in the hull.

The tank was designed to scout out the terrain surrounding the main force it was accompanying and therefore had only one main gun that was able to fend off lightly armored vehicles. Therefore, infantry was posing a great threat and so the engineers of the Orange Stripe, the Red Star´s engineering department for aerial and ground combat, had suggested fitting the tanks with small embrasures to be able to stick through infantry weapons. It looked great in the simulations and from what he had heard it exceeded the expectations of the engineers. So good in fact, that they had decided to adapt the embrasures for other tanks or armored vehicles that weren´t designed to directly fight infantry or didn´t feature the means to do so.

"How many soldiers did your squad lose during the assault?" He asked the soldier that was busy waking up the one that seemed like the pilot.

He looked up for a moment and said:" Four of our men were wounded including our actual pilot but we didn´t lose anyone."

"Glad to hear that. Now what about that guy?" He pointed at the guy without uniform lying in one of the bunk beds.

"Oh, that? Don´t worry about him. He´s a new recruit and his uniform is still being produced."

"I see." Joseph murmured.

The soldier turned back to the guy without uniform. "Goddamn it, Louis. Wake up."

"Five more minutes, please." The newbie muttered and pulled his covers over his head.

The commanding officer sighed, looked at the soldier sitting at the embrasure and nodded into the direction of his sleeping comrade. The rifleman gave him an asking look but after a second nod he began to smile.

"Hey, Sub-Supreme-Commander. Would you close the back hatch please?" The soldier asked.

Joseph nodded and closed the back hatch of the tank. As soon as the door closed the rifleman fired a row of shots and shouted:" WE´RE UNDER ATTACK. LOUIS! GET YOUR ASS UP AND US OUT OF HERE!"

Like a flash the soldier got out of the bed and stumbled to the cockpit of the tank. After a few moments Joseph could hear the engines of the tank started and the tank began vibrating lightly. The pilot looked around nervously before stepping on the gas. Joseph had to grab on one of the handles on the ceiling to stay on his feet.

After a few minutes of driving down the street the pilot asked:" Did we lose them?"

"That we sure did." His superior said and laughed while Joseph couldn´t help but join in.

The pilot facepalmed and sighed. "Why do I have the feeling you´re getting too used to this?"

The other soldier raised his hands defensively and said:" It was an emergency this time, honestly."

"I don´t see any reason for waking me up."

"Oh, stop it. You´re making me feel guilty." Joseph said.

"Who the hell are you?" The pilot asked him, still pissed that he was awoken..

"Sub-Supreme-Commander Joseph Blackburn of the Military Research, Intelligence and Special Forces or MRISF for short. Mind your tone, you´re talking to the second-highest authority in this organization." He answered while maintaining a friendly tone and facial expression and reaching out with his hand.

The pilot fell silent for a second but then did the same and they shook hands.

"Special Forces Recruit Louis Santos. It´s an honor to meet you, Sir."

"Likewise. Now tell me how you came into our organization. It´s always interesting to hear the backstory of someone who isn´t from the motherland. While you´re doing this you can drive to the Bridge of the 25. April."

"The Motherland?" The pilot asked while taking his seat again.

"Ah, I forgot. You´re still a recruit so I can´t tell you what the Motherland really is. What I can tell you is that the motherland isn´t Russia. The Russians in our organization just decided to call their new homeland the Motherland instead and I think it´s absolutely justified."

"Yeah, I see. So, for my backstory: Before I joined the Red Star, I was a member in the Portuguese Coast Guard. The base I was working in was located next to a military facility and my sister happened to work there. She´s one of the many persons that abuse the power granted to them. She mocked me every day and sometimes even came through with it. The problem is that she enjoys the full backing of her superiors. The only reason I haven´t committed suicide by now is my friend and commanding officer Sergey."

"Shut up. You´re making me blush." Someone shouted from the back part of the tank.

As they drove into the direction of the bridge, Louis described how he had felt about the recent changes in society and how he had been affected by it, both in his way to think and his way to act. When they arrived at the checkpoint near the bridge Joseph put his hand on his shoulder and said:" It wasn´t easy, I understand that. But you endured until you were rescued. And believe it or not the fate of people like you is what keeps our organization together. There are even women that don´t want the world to look like this and there is more of them than you think. For now, I can just tell you to keep enduring whatever burden is placed on you until this all is over. Perhaps, one day you will stand where I stand right now."

He left the tank through the back hatch and showed his ID to the guards there. One of the guards led him to a heavily fortified bunker that was fitted with one of the new heat-resistant steel doors. They were designed against energy weapons, especially plasma cannons.

After subjecting himself to another iris scan, he entered the bunker and found the Spec Ops Council in the middle of their conference.

"If you want the collectors deployed there, send in your own men already. My men can´t waste any time fighting those wannabe-rebels. We need to secure all of the city before the White Star arrives." Spec Ops Commander Irina Blinova, the commander of the special combat forces, spoke.

"You´re forgetting the fact that my men are primarily trained to be advanced engineers and field researchers. They don´t have any experience in guerrilla warfare. If you would just expend a small portion of your men like a tank company or two, we would be able to solve that problem in no time." Rio Akatsuki, the commander of the Orange Stripe, protested.

"Those rebels are not the problem. They are badly organized and pose no real threat. The real problem is the remains of the Portuguese Military on the other side of the bridge. They know how to organize resistance and if we let them continue we may have a problem afterwards. My men are on facile ground right now, so halting and setting up defensive positions is no option. I need every soldier at my disposal right now in order to secure the rest of Lisbon. After that, I´ll gladly send my men to aid yours."

"How about an airstrike?" Joseph suggested.

Irina looked at him and said:" Glad to see you could make it, Sir. And no, that would be just a waste of fuel. The rebel forces are scattered through the area and a bombing would only take out a small portion of them. On top of that, the risk of hitting our own men is too high."

"I have an idea." Taro Akatsuki, commander of the Black Stripe, the Red Star´s intelligence and mental healthcare department, said. "How about, we disguise some of my men as Portuguese soldiers? They will go into the compromised area and attempt to gather the rebels in one place and as soon as that happens your troops will strike and wipe them out, Rio. How about that?"

"I didn´t expect anything less from the filthy agent that dares to call himself my husband. Now we only need to get Joseph´s approval." Rio answered and smiled while the two of them looked at Joseph in anticipation.

"Sounds great, but how can we make sure that the rebels will fall for it?" Joseph expressed his concerns.

"We´ll give the disguised men one of our radios that´ll play pre-recorded messages which they´ll use to organize some faked raids in order to gain the trust of the rebels."

"That sounds good. I approve so far but you´ll have to show me the final layout of the plan."

"Alright, Rio. Let´s get to work." Taro said and both of them left the room smilingly.

Now only Joseph and Irina were left and at this point he first noticed that the commander of the Blue Stripe, their research department was missing.

"Any idea where Raul is?" He asked Irina.

"He´s at Alfeite, inspecting the wreckage of the Portuguese ships. He hopes to learn how far the Portuguese have gotten with the use of IS-technology in their conventional forces."

"Exemplary, I have to say. Anyway, what´s the status of our troops?"

Irina turned to the holodesk in the middle of the room and turned it on.

"We have pushed the Portuguese back to Corroios and are further advancing. There are next to no survivors in the occupied area and the few are mostly to be found in an area six clicks north of here. We call it the compromised zone and no one is allowed to enter it without authorization. We have established a perimeter around the zone to prevent anyone from escaping but we cannot move in further as that would open up a gap in our defenses and you know what happens when a guerrilla realizes that there is an gap in the enemy´s defenses."

"That problem will be dealt with soon. As for what you achieved so far, I´m proud. Everything is going exactly like predicted and we´ll have total control over the target area within the next weeks. However, in order to facilitate our advance, we'll have to rely on an unconventional plan."

He pulled the small data pad out of his vest pocket and handed it to Irina.

She read through it and then said:" I like it. When do we begin?"

"As soon as we notice that the front lines become rigid. Opening up a second front should help us keep the enemies occupied and stressed out. To be able to put a good fight, we should plan in about four or five legions. Now, are there any men that are labeled missing?"

"Right now, there are none. But in the middle of the assault we were about to label the Milition of the First Forward Special Forces Division, namely Sergey Chernov, missing. He managed to report in when I was about to give the call. He sure gave me a fright back there."

"I see. Is there anything else I should know about?" Joseph asked, hoping that this would be the only problem that would occur during the operation.

He was all the more disappointed when Irina replied:" In fact, there is. About fifteen minutes ago the 112th and the 199th Forward Special Forces Divisions have begun an assault on the city of Wernigerode, located in central Germany. They swept through the city within merely ten minutes and now they are holding full control of the streets. As far as I can tell, this attack has been ordered by none other than General Frost."

"As long as we can confirm that it's all part of the plan he's made to fulfill his current mission, I see nothing wrong with that. Is there anything else? If not, I'll be going to meet Raul now."

"I can't think of anything important." Irina said.

They both saluted each other and Joseph turned around, leaving the bunker.

As soon as came outside he began making his way over the bridge and to Alfeite. It didn´t took long and it was still dark when he arrived at the harbor with demolished walls and burning shipwrecks at the piers. There were many soldiers, mostly researchers of the Blue Stripe as he could conclude from their vest symbols.

He found Raul Pérez sitting on a pier with his legs hanging over the edge while studying an engineering report.

He put his hand on his shoulder and jokingly said:" I like what you´ve done with the place. No way the Portuguese can win with so many casualties."

"Victory is not measured in losses, Joseph. It is measured in gains. That´s the real reason the Portuguese will lose."

"I see. Found anything interesting yet?"

"Interesting yes, but disturbing one could say as well."

"What is it?"

Raul stood up and pointed at a nearby shipwreck.

"We recovered it from the remains of Portugal´s newest warship which, at this point, is already twenty years old. Whatever the Portuguese planned to do with it, it can´t be anything good."

He handed Joseph the pad he had been looking at before and he read through it several times.

"I´m pretty sure that this wasn´t ordered by the Portuguese government."

"Then who do you think was it?"

"There is only one organization I deem capable of such things."

"Phantom Task."

"You´re damn right. But I wonder what they are trying to achieve by resurrecting the Cohen-Project."

"You not only can put IS-technology into the conventional military. It also goes the other way round. And if they really are resurrecting the Cohen-Project, then we have a big maldito problem."

"Yes, and if they find out that we know about it, we will be the first to feel the consequences."

"Well, what do we do about it?"

"Do you know how to ruin a country´s reputation and keep your own organization safe from terrorists?" He asked him.

"Not really." Raul replied.

"Then watch and learn. Portugal has already violated the Alaska Treaty by sending an IS to fight us. It would be a shame if someone found out that they were storing weapons of mass destruction on their ships, wouldn´t it?" Joseph said and smiled.


	9. Past and Present

(TRIGGER) **WARNING: This story may contain one (or all) of the following things: Dark humor, memes, stolen quotes, badly translated German quotes.**

 **If you get easily offended by one (or all) of the things, listed above, DO NOT READ THIS STORY**

 **You have been warned**

 **PS: I do not own Infinite Stratos**

* * *

She was awoken by the gunfire.

Still sleepy, the little girl hopped out of her bed and rubbed her eyes.

When she realized what was going on she pushed out of her small room and ran through the hallways, a certain destination in her head.

The Sarashiki Estate was a gigantic building, where people could easily get lost but she had been living here for her whole life.

She ignored the confused stares of the guards who obviously had never seen a girl in pajamas running through a house.

When she arrived at her destination, the gunfights had already spread throughout the ground floor of the northern foyer.

She knocked against the door several times while a group of guards ran past her into the direction of the gunfire.

"Katana? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in bed."

"Isn't it obvious? I want to see my parents." She cried out.

"Alright." Steven sighed. "I´ll take you to them."

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked him while he closed the door behind her. "You're supposed to guard my room."

"I was called to guard the ops instead. Your parents are very confident that you can defend yourself, should it come to the worst."

"Steven, what's going on? Who are you talking to?" A woman called out from the guard´s communicator.

"It's your daughter, Sensei. She said she wanted to see you and your husband."

"Which one?"

"Katana."

"Alright, bring her in and go back to your post."

Steven stepped in front of the ops door and typed a code into the device next to it.

With a creak the door opened and Katana quickly slipped through while Steven closed the door behind her.

Upon entering the command central she was met with a strict stare from her mother.

The chestnut-haired woman sighed before smiling and saying:" You´ll never learn when is the right time to stay in bed, will you?"

Instead of saying anything she just clung to her leg and held on as firm as she could.

"I see." Her mother said while gently stroking her hair. "I´m afraid too but I´m sure we´ll make it."

"Don´t be so sure, Tatenashi. The attack may have begun weak but who knows what other tricks these guys got up their sleeve."

The light blue-haired-man that had been looking at the screen until now turned around and took a closer look at his daughter.

"Hey, there little one. Are you okay?" He asked with the concern in his voice clearly audible.

She just nodded, still clinging to her mother´s leg.

Her father nodded and her mother took the word:" Do you have any information on our attackers?"

"Phantom Task. Without any doubts its them. Although some of these people appear to be mercs."

"Well observed." Someone said from behind.

Katana and the rooms occupants turned to the source of the voice and spotted a young man in white soldier garniture.

Although his face was covered by a white balaclava she could clearly hear that it was a rather young man, probably in his thirties.

"If you´ll allow me to introduce myself." The man said and bowed down. "My name is Anatoly Yedurovich."

"We´ll see if you´re telling the truth. See if you can get anything about him."

Her father sat down at one of the screens and began sweeping the databanks of the Sarashiki Family.

After a few minutes he got up and said:" The name is right. Anatoly Yedurovich. Born 1940 in the Soviet Union. Former KGB-agent and mercenary for god-knows-how-many PMC´s. He´s been fighting on battlefields all around the world. Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Angola, you name it. Experienced combatant both behind and at the front lines."

"Yet you always forget one of the most important points… Family. My parents are both dead and I have a twin-brother named Boris Yedurovich whom is currently working for the Russian Spetsnaz and he´s on my heels right now."

"Why that?"

"He thinks I betrayed him."

"The hell you did, Cyka!"

The man turned, seemingly shocked, to the source of the voice; another man clad in a Russian uniform and wearing a gunner helmet with open visor.

"B-Boris, what are you doing here?" Anatoly stuttered.

"That´s a stupid question. I´ve been following you since you left Vladivostok and now I´m finally able to make you pay." Boris said and approached his brother.

Anatoly stumbled back a few steps before Boris reached him and…

Put his arms around him him.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" Anatoly asked his brother

"Saying hello to the brother I haven´t been able to see in two years. Do you really think a family reunion would be complete without proper greeting?" Boris replied.

He let go of his brother and asked:" So, how´s it been going since you left me and Galen?"

The two of them sat down and began talking about what they had experienced since they had last seen each other, all the while Katana´s mother stood there and muttered:" Russians are strange people."

"Pasmatritje, kto gavarit, Yapanski!" Both of them replied simultaneously.

"Okay, Okay I´ll wait ´till you´re done."

After some time both of them got up and Boris asked his brother:" Say, did you lose any thoughts on me and Galen while you were with Phantom Task?"

"Not many but when I did it was... painful."

"That´s touching, indeed but you still need to die." Boris said and drew a gun, pointing it directly at Anatoly´s forehead.

However, before he could pull the trigger a person jumped into the air from behind Anatoly and landed behind Boris, with a knife pointed at his back.

"Put away the gun or I´ll slice up your back and pull out your guts from behind."

They rooms occupants weren´t terrified of what the boy said. It was rather the combination of that and the high pitch of his voice. Judging from the pitch of his voice he wasn´t much older than thirteen years.

Boris couldn´t do anything other than put away his gun and raise his arms.

"Good. Now step away from him and remain where I tell you to."

"Is this who I think he is?" Boris asked while slowly backing off.

"Depends on who you think it is. Everyone, meet my protégé, Shimo."

The boy in question put away his knife and stood still like during an inspection.

"No doubt. That´s the psychopath who attacked my men a week ago." Boris exclaimed.

"So you recognize me? How comes that?" The boy asked, with all the harshness gone from his voice.

"It was easy. After all what Mikhail told me the attacker seemed to be small, ferocious and a real psychopath."

"I don´t know what would make me psychopath, old man."

"Do I have to tell everyone in this room what you did to Alexey after you killed him?"

"Well, what exactly did my protégé do?" Anatoly interjected.

"You call him a protégé but he could have easily snuck into this room and killed everyone without breaking a sweat. But to answer your question: He sliced up Alexey until the only thing I could recognize of him was his face and then he wrote a symbol on the ground. With Blood! I´m starting to wonder where you get your recruits from."

"Oh, yeah, that. He´s kind of difficult sometimes. Don´t know why. It´s probably something with his past. I´d like to ask him, but Commander Rayashi´s the only he´s talking to about that stuff."

"Commander Rayashi? I think I´ve heard of her. She´s Japanese in origin but prefers to spend as much time as possible in Germany."

"Well, yes, That´s her. I´ll tell you a little story: She brought this boy to me eight weeks ago. Said he needed to be prepared for a mission as fast as possible. So, I did my best, teaching him all the stuff I learned at the KGB. Imagine my surprise when I learned that I prepared him for the exact same mission I was going to be sent on."

"Honestly." The boy suddenly began. "Stop talking and concentrate on the mission. We didn´t come here to tell campfire stories. We´re here to erase the tumor that calls itself Sarashiki Family."

"Let´s see if that´ll remain your goal once you notice what´s going on with your other men." Boris said as he began smiling evily.

In fact, Anatoly´s communicator began to ring and after a brief period of static the screams and gunfire could be heard.

He first looked at the communicator and then at his cousin who stood there with a triumphant smile in his face.

"You won´t get me that easy!" He said and pulled a remote trigger out of his pocket.

When he pushed the button, the wall behind him blew up and smoke began to fill the room.

When the dust had settled Anatoly got up and said:" Shimo, take care of the Sarashikis. I´ll deal with Boris." He jumped out of the hole and Boris followed right after him while shouting:" You won´t get away, mudak!"

The boy named Shimo looked after him for a while before turning around and saying:" Alright, Gentlemen. You have the choice to either hand over all Sarashikis that are present in this room or you can die alongside them. What will it be?"

The guards answered that question with taking their battle poses and pointing their weapons at him.

The boy sighed and drew his gun. The guards began firing at him but he jumped up and clung to the ceiling. As he did so he swung his legs and let go of the ceiling, effectively flying over the mass of guards while taking out one after another with his gun.

Her mother grabbed Katana and put her into a small, shady corner.

"Stay here until this is over. I swear, I will put this maniac down, for your sake." She said filled with determination.

Katana just nodded and cowered in the corner while her mother searched for a weapon.

The boy had meanwhile done a good job as he pierced the last guard with his knife.

He laughed in a murderous way and said:" So much for the guards. Now I´ll take care of you." While pointing his gun at Katana´s father.

Said person had been hit by a loose shot and was now leaning against the holodesk with his back while trying to hold his bleeding leg.

"Please, I´m just a informatician. Killing me won´t make it easier for you to fight."

"You have the ability to get information. That´s enough to label you a threat."

He was about to pull the trigger when a sword entered his field of sight over his shoulder.

"Put. Away. The. Gun." Her mother said.

He slowly turned around and raised his hands.

"As you wish."

He threw the gun in her face and pulled a small pipe out of his pocket. It took her way too long to realize the danger. By the time she had shifted into a defensive pose the taser had already touched her skin and now the electricity was flowing through her body.

She fell to the ground while flinching uncontrollably and the boy kicked her hip. When the flinching stopped she didn´t move. The boy cautiously tapped her with his foot to make sure that she was unconscious. When he was sure he turned back to her father and said:" Now, where did I left off? Ah, yes. I remember something about you being able to get information. Now, let´s see how much I can get out of you."

He knelt down in front of him and pierced his leg with his knife.

Shimo said something in language Katana didn´t understand and began twisting the knife in the wound.

For minutes he tortured him, with methods that were too brutal for Katana to understand. All she could mentally grasp were the screams racked with pain. She wanted to cry but she knew if she did that it would mean her certain death.

Finally, after one last dying groan her father silenced and died.

The boy chuckled and stood up, looking around in the room and searching for Katana´s mother.

When he turned his back to the holodesk, her mother jumped up from behind it, a sword in her hands and determined to end the life of this scumbag.

When her blade first hit his helmet it looked like it was going to slide off but the blade eventually cut into the helmet on the side.

Screaming, the boy fell off to the side and held his right ear.

When he took his hand off the ear it revealed a bleeding stump. Katana also noticed that the helmet at this side was completely cut off.

The next thing he did could be considered suicidal. He charged headfirst at her mother. She prepared to strike him but only seconds before the sword reached his throat, the boy fell onto his butt and continued sliding over the ground.

When he came to hold right between her legs he took out his knife and carved it into her leg.

The chestnut-haired woman gasped while the boy quickly got up behind her and climbed on the holodesk.

Turning around, she tried to strike him with the sword but he made a small jump backwards and the sword got stuck in the holodesk.

The boy rushed forward and placed his foot right into her face while she was still trying to pull the sword out of the desk.

She lost her grip on the sword and flew back a few steps before hitting the ground with her back.

The boy jumped forward and landed with his boots on her chest. He knelt down and tried to carve his knife into her face but she grabbed his wrists and thereby prevented him from doing so.

Her mother was several decades ahead of the boy in terms of body development, but she clearly had difficulties to hold off the knife.

Finally, she was able push his hands aside and grabbed one of the many parts of the wall that had been scattered throughout the room when Anatoly blew it up. She used it to block incoming attacks from the boy and while he was aimlessly striking the debris in front of him she moved her legs out of the danger zone and got up.

The next time the boy tried to stab her, she struck him right into the face. The boy tumbled back a few steps and stood there, trying to recover from the strike. Enough time for her to rush forward, grab his wrist and twist it so that he had to drop his knife.

As soon as he dropped his knife she threw away her shield and kicked him effectively sending him flying against a nearby wall.

Despite the force which he hit the wall with, the boy was able to get up to his feet again in next to no time.

It wasn´t of much use to him as she had already approached him and put her hands around his throat and began squeezing.

The boy tried to pull his gun out of his holster but as soon as he had drawn it, she knocked it out of his hand and it landed near Katana.

"What is Phantom Task trying to achieve by destroying the Sarashiki Family? We weren´t the ones that started this conflict. So answer me. NOW!"

"We… did only what… what was justified. You… you attacked Meusel first… when she … when she was seeking… refuge." The boy choked out.

"Meusel was a traitor. She violated our code and it was our right to take her into custody."

"You cannot… punish a human being for… for yearning for freedom… She did only what she thought… was right."

"Pretty big words for someone who is about to get killed."

"Trust me… I have … experience with such things."

With that a blue lightning lit up the room and ran through the body of Katana´s mother. Twitching uncontrollably, she let go of the boy and fell to the ground.

The boy fell to his knees and began coughing.

The electrical shock had been much weaker this time and as a consequence her mother was already back on her legs a few moments after the initial shock.

She tried to kick the boy into his face but the boy grabbed her leg and pulled on it. She landed on her back and the boy immediately jumped on her chest and pulled another knife out of a sheath on his arm.

This time he didn´t try to stab her in the face but rather one of her palms to prevent her from holding off his knife again.

She screamed in pain as the knife tore through her skin and pinned her hand to the floor.

"You know, the funny thing is that I can do this with your other hand too." He said and pulled the knife out of her hand only to ram it into her other hand.

Katana couldn´t bare what she saw anymore. She reached out and grabbed the gun lying in front of her.

She pointed it at the boy and pulled the trigger.

Click

The boy looked up and flinched when he saw the gun pointed at him but once he realized what was going he laughed and pulled the knife out of her mother´s other hand.

"That´s your daughter, Katana Sarashiki, right? What a cute girl. It´s a shame what she´s about to witness."

He raised his knife and pushed it down with all his force.

Suddenly everything went mute and her vision blurred out. Katana´s mouth was wide open and here vocal chords were vibrating as if they could jump out her throat anytime, yet her ears receiving anything and she could just stand there, not able to move her legs.

"Katana? Katana!"

A familiar voice awakened the young girl from her trance.

The knife had missed her head only by centimeters and now the boy was busy trying to pull it out if the floor.

"Switch off the security lock!" Her mother shouted.

Katana took a hasty look at the side of the gun and spotted the small lock. With a small click the lock shifted and Katana aimed the gun at the boy once again.

She pressed the trigger and in the same moment, closed her eyes. All she felt was how the kickback knocked the gun out of her hands.

A few moments after the deafening bang, she finally dared to open her eyes again.

"Mother. I did it." She whispered.

No reply.

When she took a closer look at her mother she found something that made her burst into tears.

Her mother´s right eye had been pierced by a knife and the blood was pouring out of her eye bags.

Crying, she sat down beside her mother and laid her head into her lap. Her tears stained her mother´s clothing when she felt someone gently stroking her hair.

"My daughter. You are so much stronger thank you think. Do not cry for me. Instead of lingering in the past you have to search for the future. The fate of the Sarashiki Family rests in your hands now, Tatenashi."

"But I don´t want to lose you…Mother? MOTHER! NO!"

She shook her mother but the body stayed silent and should remain like that forever from now on.

She remained in her position unable and unwillingly to move until she heard two voices approach.

"Yeah, Anatoly got away, Sir. We have already send all available men after him but the majority of our forces is busy with patching up the wounded in this area."

"Tell me if you find anything. I´m going to talk to Miss Sarashiki meanwhile. Maybe she can help us track him down."

"Alright Sir. I´ll be outside if you need me."

Boris entered the room and froze when he saw the mess that one boy had caused.

"So much for my plans." He muttered. When he spotted Katana sitting beside her mother´s corpse and crying, he began considering his options.

"Is everything alright?" He hesitantly asked.

She looked up with tears in her eyes and cried:" How can you ask such a question?"

"Y-Yeah, I get it. What about that corpse over there?" He asked while stepping into the direction of Shimo.

"He killed my mother. I hope he´s dead." She said in a rather emotionless voice.

"That he sure is." Boris said while inspecting the corpse. "It looks like a bullet has entered his body on the right flank and left it on the left flank. Even if he was alive, he probably wouldn´t be able to walk ever again. Now, If you are done, come talk to me. I have an offer for you."

He was about to turn around and leave the room but Katana stopped him.

"I want to hear it now."

"As you know Russia is already in possession of an IS-core and the matching first-gen-suit. The only thing missing right now is a representative. If you´d agree on becoming Russia´s first representative we would be able to place you and your family under government protection and prevent any further attacks by Phantom Task. We also could combine our efforts to bring them down. So, what do you think?"

"Let´s do it." She said and took the hand he offered her.

"It's a deal. It'll take a week or two, but then you'll officially be Russia's representative. I'll contact you as soon as that happens."

He saluted and turned around leaving the room.

Alone again, Katana turned around, looking at the bloody corpse of the boy that had just killed both of her parents.

On his shoulder she could see a patch with a 霜 on it.

She kicked him for a final time before turning around and leaving the room, determined to find someone she could assign for cleanup.

IS Academy, 8 years later

Tatenashi opened her eyes and sat up.

She knew that memory: A killer to young to be real, men that were almost a century old but acted like they were forty and that moment where she committed her life to the destruction of Phantom Task. It had been almost nine years and it all only felt like the fading memory of a bad dream.

"Glad to see you´re awake." A familiar voice ripped her from her thoughts. Hoseok was sitting right beside her with one hand covering his eyes.

"It´s good to see you too. But say, why are you covering your eyes?"

"Because you´re not wearing a shirt and I don´t want to be branded as siscon or something like that but you´ll just call me pervert anyway so I might as well enjoy the view." He said and laughed while the hand remained on his face.

"Try that and I´ll kick your ass." She replied laughingly while looking around for something to cover her chest with. She found a white shirt on the bedside table and put it on.

"You can look now, pervert." She said and Hoseok took his hand off his face.

"It´s always fun to tease your older sister, especially if she has a habit of getting herself in trouble. You got gassed, seriously? You know, you could have just activated your IS. It would have created a small air reservoir in its shield bubble that would have allowed you to escape."

"I didn´t have enough time. I mean, he pulled the pin and suddenly the gas was everywhere."

At that, Hoseok raised one of his eyebrows. "That´s interesting. Looks like he was using an aerosol grenade."

"A what?"

"An aerosol grenade is a gas grenade which´s content is pressurized and will spread with an unmatched velocity upon release. Due to the pressure the grenade can fit much more gas inside and cover a larger area than conventional gas grenades. At this point only a few prototypes exist in the most advanced countries although the first one was invented in the late 2020´s. Most countries abandoned their research on this asset in favor if IS-research. The White Star has probably been researching this grenade for a decade now and it´s safe to say that their grenades are far more advanced than ours. However, I do not fear the White Star using it. I rather fear their counterpart using it."

"Counterpart?"

"Yesterday, at Lisbon at around 12PM local time a heavily damaged US warship entered the military harbor in the bay of Lisbon and docked there. Around one hour later a series of explosions destroyed the coast guard building in the harbor and the US warship destroyed the other Portuguese ships. A few minutes later this message was broadcasted throughout all of Lisbon."

He took out a holoprojector and activated it. The screen showed three dark-blue waves and a red, four-pointed star sitting enthroned on top of them. The symbol disappeared and a young man wearing a white soldier´s uniform and an admiral´s hat with a red, four-pointed star on it. The man had dark-blue hair just like Ichika and seemed to be in his mid-twenties.

"Citizens of this earth." He began to speak. "Upon hearing this message for the first time you might be afraid. You might fear for your life or that of your loved ones. I can assure you that, as long as you don´t live in the imperialist countries that are pushing their IS-research to the limit, you are completely out of danger. For eleven years now a weapon of unimaginable power has held the world in its grip. Those that control these weapon have used it to bring their nations great wealth and prosperity but many of them have never considered the price. Hundreds of already died at the costs of IS research and development, thousands were ruined their lives and hundreds of thousands more might follow if this doesn´t stop. We watched for nearly a decade now and as there is no government that acts we have decided to take matters into our own hands. We will crush the countries that threaten the lives of their people and here, in Lisbon, our crusade shall begin. Who are we? We are the Red Star and we are sick of watching."

The screen shimmered out of existence and Hoseok didn´t leave her any time to think about what she just saw.

"A few minutes after that a massive bomber attack was launched that devastated the greatest part of northern Lisbon. Although the local law enforcement was able to push the bombers back, they were surprised by an even larger fighter-jet force that took them out in next to no time. When the military, including Portugal´s only IS with core, arrived and began pushing the fighter jets back a second attack was launched. This time it was a landing maneuver that brought roughly one million weaponized troops and a number of tanks that varies depending on who you ask to the city´s shores. And you know what the crazy thing is?"

"Don´t keep me waiting. Just tell me." She said annoyed.

"The crazy thing is that this happened within less than an hour. Now this is where it gets really crazy. They took eastern Lisbon within the next hour and even managed to disable Portugal´s only IS with core within that time. There are only theories about how they managed it, but some self-proclaimed witnesses say that the IS was struck by lightning."

"Well, was it?"

"I don´t think so. The weather was nice back then and I'm pretty sure that it was more of a concentrated EMP-beam. When the Portuguese realized that their only chance of survival was gone, they began retreating to the Bridge of the 25. April and intended to regroup there in order to keep the attackers from reaching Southern Lisbon."

"I take it they didn´t succeed?"

"Not really. Most of the survivors were wiped out by a hidden attack force of around a thousand men and now they are pushed back to the township of Fernão Ferro, which isn´t even a part of Lisbon anymore. With Portuguese reinforcements arriving the fighting has mostly come to a stalemate, but the attackers are slowly advancing through the northern and northeastern part of the Setúbal District. However, I have reports of current fighting in the town of Vala do Carregado, the town next to the northernmost bridge over the Tagus. They are probably trying to secure bridgeheads that are vital to the continuation of their plan."

"Is there anything else?"

"Yup, we haven´t heard anything from the Portuguese Government, so they are most likely dead. The fact that the Red Star is able to track and eliminate the heads of state with such precision is utmost concerning."

"Looks like we got a big problem here. Are the Sarashikis in Europe informed?"

"I don´t know why they shouldn´t. All of Europe is in a state of lockdown and an emergency NATO-meeting has been called. Meanwhile the eyes of the press have been trained on the event and there are TV-channels reporting about this as we speak. Also, I found out something about the White Star that my interest you. They are actually fighting against the forces of the Red Star. If we know who to talk to we can make them into an ally."

Tatenashi raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? No offense, but I remember being infiltrated a company of the White Star."

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, always so doubtful." He teased her in return. "What seems like a getaway after stealing the money and trying to kill the students was in reality all conducted by Shimo. His superiors didn´t even know that he took the money and when they got news of Operation LV they were called off by their superiors."

"Operation LV?"

"The codename used for the ongoing assault by the Red Star. If my intel´s right then the White Star learned of its existence only hours before it began. That would explain the hasty withdrawal of their troops no matter if they were bound by contract or not."

"Yeah, that would make sense. But I still wonder, is it really that important for the White Star to defeat the Red Star?"

"Probably yes. You see, that conflict between them hasn´t erupted overnight. It´s a shadow war that has been going on for more than a century and it´s becoming more fierce with every passing day. The White Star was officially founded in 1937 but records indicate that they have been existing for much longer, as well as the Red Star. The reason that such a conflict has been going undetected for such a long time is that they didn´t start a war of their own but waited until another conflict erupted somewhere to bring in their men. The Cold War is a wonderful example. In every proxy war at least one of the organizations was involved but while the Red Star was allied with the Soviet Union the White Star had its contract made with the US and their allies. At this point in history the Red and the White Star weren´t even that hostile towards each other and there are even records of them working together if it was necessary to achieve the best results. When the Soviet Union collapsed, both of them disappeared from the stage for some time until the Antarctica-Crisis came around. After that the shadow war intensified to what we have today. For some reason the relationship between the two organizations has worsened and now they are trying to destroy each other completely. If my calculations are right then this conflict has already claimed the lives of well over a million people, excluding the victims of official armed conflicts and Lisbon."

"That is terrible and impressive at the same time. If it´s a conflict that large, then why has no one ever noticed it?"

"That I don´t know. What I can tell for sure is that the conflict is going to become more intense. Now that the White Star has revealed its true intentions they will certainly begin searching for allies against the Red Star and vice versa."

"Well, we can´t do anything about for now. But there are still so many other inconsistencies. Why did they reveal themselves now? They could have kept going like this. Why was Shimo working for Phantom Task back then? It´s really hard to get out of Phantom Task alive."

"Questions over questions, I know. I can´t answer them all and it´s of no use to rack our brains over this right now. All we can do is wait until you get better."

After that both fell silent. For a few moments they just stared at each other before Hoseok decided to break the silence.

"There´s something I wanted to tell you." He said slowly and a bit insecure.

"I´m all ears." She replied.

"When I left for Korea, I didn´t think of the possibility that we may become more than associates ever again and that thought didn´t cross my mind ever since. However, the recent events have shown that we have to band together and become a family again if we want to defeat Shimo. I hope you can forgive me for being such a selfish person."

"Oh, you´re flattering me." Tatenashi responded chuckling. "You have no reason to ask for my forgiveness. All you have to do is become my family again and make sure that it stays that way."

At that his eyes widened. "Really? That´s great."

"What is that?" A voice, very-well-known to Tatenashi and yet in such an unfamiliar tone exclaimed.

However, when Hoseok turned around the voice lost all its sharpness and the person it belonged to looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey Kan-chan." Hoseok greeted Kanzashi and smiled only to be wrapped in a tight embrace by her.

"I see you still remember that stupid nickname." Kanzashi said, half laughing, half crying. "It´s been so long." She continued. "I´ve been missing you."

"Same here." Hoseok replied. "It´s good to see you again."

"Wait a moment." Tatenashi interrupted the two. "A few seconds ago this was all about MY reunion with Hoseok."

"Well, you can´t always have everything, Onee-chan." Kanzashi said and both she and Hoseok began to laugh.

Suddenly, Hoseok fell silent and began sniffing around.

"I know that smell from somewhere." He muttered. "For some reasons I begin to feel happy whenever I smell it. I know that there´s something about whatever´s emitting that smell."

"Are you talking of those?" Kanzashi asked while opening one of the pouches attached to her belt and pulling out a pack of cookies.

"Yes, exactly those." Hoseok exclaimed in joy.

"I´m sure you´re going to love them as my cooking skills have improved since the last time." Kanzashi said and smiled.

"Was she always so extroverted when talking to you?" Tatenashi asked Hoseok.

"I don´t know what you mean." He said and shrugged. "Wwas she ever different? I mean, I remember her being that sort of kid and I don´t know what happened after I left for Korea. If you perceived her any different than me, I can´t blame her."

"Trust me, you don´t want to know." Kanzashi said while handing him one of the cookies she had brought with her.

"You´re probably right. Sometimes it´s just better not to know." He admitted while chewing on his cookie.

While the reunited Sarashikis enjoyed their time together, Laura Bodewig woke up inside an airplane headed directly to the Federal Republic of Germany.

"Commander. You´re awake." A familiar voice said.

When she sat up a sudden pain in her chest made her cough.

"Take it easy. There is still some gas remaining inside your lungs." Emily said.

"Bullshit. I feel as good as ever." Laura replied and stood up. However, as soon as she hit the ground her legs went numb and Emily picked her and carried her to the next table.

"Try to get your mind together while I make you a coffee."

A few minutes later Emily came back with two cups of coffee in her hands. She sat down at the other side of the small table and asked:" So, what´s the last thing you remember?"

"Well, the last thing I remember is being gassed by a homicidal maniac."

Emilie´s eyes widened at that but she didn´t look like she was about to say anything so Laura just continued:" Tatenashi and I were fighting against that mercenary lieutenant when he set off a gas grenade and suddenly there was chlorine gas everywhere."

"I see. Looks like it was a aerosol grenade. So the Red Star does have equipment that´s capable of matching ours. How that stands in contrast with what we´ve seen in Lisbon."

The last part was only a mutter and Laura decided that it was best not to ask about that, so she decided to go with the first option instead.

"Red Star?"

"I´ll spare you the details. The Red Star is a underground organization with a strict anti-IS alignment. This night they attacked the Portuguese capital and killed more than four million people within five hours. Reports are beginning to arrive right now and the BND still has difficulties to determine the real scale of the attack. The attack has drawn massive attention on itself and we are already working on unraveling their next targets. However, we have another problem as Lieutenant Harfouch will explain."

Clarissa's face appeared on a holographic screen right in front of her and she began to speak:" It's good to see you made it, Sir. I'll get to the point without circumlocution. When Lisbon was attacked, a smaller armed group of Red Star forces entered the city Wernigerode. We tried to take the city back, but they had reinforcements arrive at the same time as we were advancing. More than half of our forces were wiped out and the remaining are scrambling for survival either in the city or the surrounding woods. The situation has become more critical as some of their men captured Rappbode Dam and are now preparing to blow it up. We managed to cut their supply lines but it's only a question of time until they conquer it back. We have called you here because we think you can defuse the situation peacefully."

"Excuse me? I think my ears are deceiving me. I´m a soldier, not a diplomat."

"That you are indeed but the mercenaries have offered us a peaceful solution through negotiation. The only problem is that the only person they want to negotiate with is you."

"Why would anyone want to negotiate with a soldier?"

"We asked that question too, but the only answer we got is that they are only following orders."

"I can imagine who is behind this." She said suddenly.

"Who do you think is it?"

"Remember that Lieutenant? The last time I saw him at the Academy he talked to a German person on the phone."

"About that Lieutenant… uhm." Clarissa fell silent mid-sentence.

"What is it?"

"He… uhm… We think we who he is, but we are not sure. Therefore, it would be nice if you could find out anything about him. And there also is some bad news."

"Can my day get any worse after this?" She asked ironically.

"Well, uhm… yes." Clarissa admitted hesitantly. "The occupation of Wernigerode is not the first operation the Red Star conducted in Germany. Two weeks ago, the Schwarzer Hase-HQ in Berlin was attacked and all members except for you, me, Emily, Maia, Ronya, Olivia and Mia were injured. The injured are here at Harz Military Base right now and undergo medical treatment but that´s not really what I´m concerned about. I´m rather concerned about the possibility of Germany being pulled into a shadow war."

"Explain." Laura demanded.

"The Red Star and the White Star are opposing sides in a shadow war that has been going on for more than a century. Since World War 2 both of them found themselves on opposing sides whenever a major historical event occurred and since the Antarctica-Crisis they´ve actively fighting against each other. We don´t know how they managed to keep it a secret for so long but we are determined to put an end to it now. After we were imprisoned by members of the Red Star we were rescued by a White Star task force and brought to Harz Military Base. We managed to recover information about the Red Star´s next steps and believe it or not, we were the ones that discovered the existence of Operation LV and therefore caused that sudden mobilization of their troops."

"That means we weren´t infiltrated by the White Star and the Lieutenant is just good at improvising."

"Yeah, probably. And now that we have helped the Red Star´s arch enemy, they´ll probably try to avenge themselves. What happened in Lisbon proofs that they are a dangerous enemy."

"I see. Has the Oberkommando already released a statement or orders concerning this matter?"

"We don´t know. We aren´t receiving any transmissions due to a storm at the location of the Oberkommando. We´ll be informed as soon as possible. That would conclude the meeting. Any questions so far?"

"No, Lieutenant."

"I´m looking forward to seeing you again, Captain." Clarissa said and the screen shimmered out of existence.

"I should go back to the cockpit. The plane´s been running in autopilot long enough." Emily said and went to the cockpit.

While the plane was speeding through the skies, Milition Timur of the 199. Forward Special Forces Division readied his sniper rifle and aimed at the soldier´s head.

He pulled the trigger and the soldier fell face-forward into the snow. When he hit the ground, Timur had already stood up, grabbed his ammo case and was running away from the Germans. He heard how machine gun fire hit the trees behind him. After a few moments the gun fire stopped and Timur halted to check if he was injured. To his luck he was fine.

Just as he thought himself safe, someone grabbed his ankle and pulled so strong that Timur fell face-forward in the snow.

He rolled on his back to catch a better look of the attacker. As soon as he did that, a knife hit the ground beside him and as he looked up he saw another soldier clad in a white military uniform sitting atop of him. The front part of his uniform was blood-stained with a few drops still making their way to the ground and coloring the snow red.

The soldier tried to stab him another time but Timur pulled his knife like a flash and blocked the strike from the soldier.

For a short period both of them tried to overpower each other but the other soldier was simply too strong. However, that problem was solved when the soldier spotted the red star on Timur´s vest and began laughing.

He rolled off to the side and continued laughing.

When the laugh in his throat began to die the soldier suddenly felt a metal blade on his throat. Timur had gotten up and was now sitting atop the soldier.

"Any last words, buddy?" He asked the not-so-frightened-looking soldier.

For a moment the soldier stayed silent but then broke into even greater laughter then before.

"What a coincidence." He laughed. "I knew I´d find you somewhere here, but I didn´t expect us to meet that way."

"It can´t be." Timur stuttered while looking at the person underneath him. "Frost?"

"Bingo."

They spend a moment just staring at each other before Timur rolled off to the side and began processing what he just saw while Frost continued laughing beside him.

After some more time he managed to get his mind together and began ranting:" What´s gotten into you? Isn´t it already enough that your enemies think you´re retarded? Now you have to do the same to me?"

"We haven´t seen each other for a month and that´s all you have to say? I have to admit, I´m a bit disappointed." Frost scoffed with feigned disappointment in his voice.

"We haven´t seen each other for a month and the first thing you do is trying to put a knife in my head. If it was for me, silence would be the least of your worries." Timur replied annoyed.

"I´m sorry. Y´know, I was covered with snow and therefore could only hear if someone was approaching. I was told you´d gone out there alongside some other soldiers and when I heard only one person coming my way, I thought that it was one of the survivors of the ambush. So yeah, sorry about that."

"You know what? It´s okay."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I mean I would have probably acted the same way if I was you. And besides, everyone makes mistakes."

"And why did you rant at me like five seconds ago?"

"I got carried away just a bit."

"I see. By the way, did you know that the Japanese term for "I see" is synonymous with the Russian Term for "bitch"?"

"You are either very observant or you have too much time to think about things like that. Anyway, time to check on my men." Timur said while getting back on his feet and pulling his communicator out of one of his many vest pockets.

"This is Milition Timur to Strike Team T. What´s your status?"

"Corpses are plundered and the area is secure. There are no signs of any hostile activity. Awaiting further orders."

"Head back to Wernigerode. I´ll be staying here a bit longer."

"Yes, Sir."

Timur put away his communicator and looked at Frost, who was still lying in the snow.

"Hey, Timur. Would you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Could you climb into the trees and search for my backpack? I put it there to prevent someone from finding it if something should go wrong with my assassination attempt."

"Why don´t you do it yourself?"

"I´d like to but my thigh´s still kinda fucked and the doctor said I shouldn´t put any pressure on it."

"But you managed to climb on the tree to put your backpack there."

"And now it hurts like hell. Honestly, I don´t think I´d survive climbing into the tree again."

"Just what did you do that your thigh is so damaged that you can´t even climb trees?"

"I´ll tell you once I have my backpack." Frost said and Timur was sure that had put on a cheeky smile underneath his full-face-covering combat helmet.

Timur sighed and began climbing into one of the nearby trees. He didn´t had to worry about taking the wrong tree as there were no leafs hanging on the branches right now and blocking his sight. Luckily, he was able to spot the backpack in the treetop of the tree he had just climbed on and removed from there with ease.

When he was back on the ground, he put the backpack down beside Frost and waited for a moment when a call distracted him.

"Yeah, Timur here. Are there any problems?"

"Our listening post in Löcknitz has detected a plane of the German military approaching your position with high speed. If they hold their current course they will arrive in about forty-five minutes. What are your orders?"

"We´ll have to discuss that with Lars and Frost once we´re back. Until then, keep your men on standby."

"Aye, Aye, Sir."

Timur put away his communicator and turned to Frost.

"A plane you say?" The latter suddenly spoke. "I´d like to see for myself. Let´s head back to the city."

He stood up and grabbed his backpack and they began heading down a path leading to Wernigerode. On their way down Timur noticed that Frost was limping.

"So, out of curiosity, what happened to your thigh?"

Frost looked at him for a moment and then replied:" Do you remember Katana?"

"You mean that girl whose mother you killed? What about her?"

"Well, she´s the IS Representative of Russia and that means she has her own IS."

"Tell me something I don´t know."

"She rammed her spear into my thigh."

"I see. Y'know, I can totally understand her. I'd be pissed too if someone killed my mother."

"When she was talking to me while her spear was still stuck in my thigh she sounded pretty satisfied. I think I'll spoil her by telling that it was all part of the plan."

"Seriously? How does any good plan involve getting yourself hurt?"

"It doesn´t. I just love to ruin her mood."

"I see." Timur said and chuckled. "You really are a sly fox."

"Look who´s talking." Frost said while lightly nudging him into the side. Timur laughed at that.

"It´s good to have you back."

"Likewise. It´s good to see you one last time before my most difficult mission so far begins."

"What´s that about?"

"I´ll be going away. Very far away. Farther than even you can reach. It´ll be a long and dangerous journey and I don´t know if I´ll make it back."

"Oh, you certainly will. Because If you don´t I will murder you."

"Uh, yeah. Let´s rather talk about the interesting stuff."

"Yeah, like your time at IS Academy. My imagination runs pretty wild so tell me, how was it?"

"Oh, it was terrible, that´s for sure. But I got to see Laura and Katana again. That was totally worth it."

"What´s so horrible about IS Academy? I mean, it´s full of pretty girls."

"Do you know the term Thot?"

"I don´t like where this is going."

"It basically applies to all of the Academy. Not only the students but also the staff members. However, there was one big surprise among all these disappointments."

"What was it?"

"Ichika Orimura."

"How could that debil be surprising in any way?"

At that Frost just chuckled.

"If you ever had met him, you wouldn't speak so casual of him. Despite everything I heard, I can say pretty sure: He's not stupid."

"He's got seven girls around him, who're all desperately trying to make him notice that they all have fallen in love with him. They've been trying since two years and he still doesn't notice. Fucking, fucking, of course he's an idiot."

Frost yawned and said:" Y'know, the mistake you all make is to judge him by the way he interacts with others. Socialization isn't as important as it seems."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that if you would stop projecting that presumed denseness onto him, you'd see what I see: Outstanding talent, persistence and the will to protect those he loves."

"Now that you say it… There´s probably more to him than I thought."

"Yeah, probably. Anyway, I heard your troops are preparing to blow up Rappbode Dam."

"Yes, we have already mined the side that´s facing the valley and now we are waiting for some specialists to come and mine the side that is underwater."

"Did you know that Rappbode Dam is the single largest drinking water reservoir in Germany? The lake behind the dam can fit about one-hundred-thirteen cubic meters of water in it and blowing up the dam would cause many nearby towns to be flooded."

"Why, do you think, are we blowing up that thing?"

Frost shrugged. "I just thought you were interested in some facts."

Timur nodded when Frost came to a sudden halt.

"Take a look at that." He said and stretched out his arm to point at what was right in front of them.

Timur looked forward and saw the city of Wernigerode. Flashes of rifle fire could be seen throughout the city and most of the buildings had been reduced to burning rubble with only the snow hiding the fact that the rubble was scorched. Far away there was a group of undamaged buildings. This was where their forces had set up their HQ.

"You really are a psychopath." He said to Frost who needed a moment to realize that certain parts of the city actually were on fire.

He, in return, just chuckled and the two began making their way down the hill and into the city.

"Hey, what do you think? Will we encounter any Germans?" Frost asked Timur when they passed the first destroyed building.

"Probably." He replied. "They won´t start a full-scale assault due to our threat to kill all the civilians but they are constantly sending in strike teams to free at least some civilians."

"Has anyone been freed yet?"

"What kind of result do you expect when sending an infantry team into a city packed with tanks?"

"A simple no and I would have been satisfied."

"Don´t get upset. I mean, the answer was apparent so you should´ve been able to figure it out yourself."

"I did. I just don´t like people who make an elephant out of every fly."

"Oh? Is that so?" Timur asked and smiled underneath his face covers. Frost needed a moment to realize that he had marched into his own trap.

"Timur you prick!"

"Izvinite." Timur said and both of them broke into laughter.

Unbeknownst to them, they had drawn some attention on them and not one of the good kind. A bullet made its way out of a rifle´s barrel and missed Timur´s head only by centimeters.

Both threw themselves on the ground and Timur crawled behind a pile of rubbish lying on the street.

He looked over to Frost, who had done the same and was holding his rifle in his hands.

"Ready to go?" He asked him.

Timur just nodded and Frost jumped out of his cover, firing a quick salvo of shots into the surroundings and drawing the attention of the marksman at himself.

It worked and from this point on the marksman was solely focusing on hitting Frost which, of course, was an near impossible task. It took Timur a few more moments to spot her hideout but once he did, he took out his sniper rifle and prepared for another kill.

"Keine Bewegung!" Someone suddenly shouted from behind.

Timur turned around and stood face to face with two German soldiers who were both pointing their weapons at him.

"Pizdec." He grumbled and dropped his rifle.

"Was sollen wir mit ihm machen?" The soldier asked.

"Mitnehmen und verhören. Der weiß sicher wie wir die Zivilisten aus dem Lager befreien können." The other soldier replied.

"Hey, can you understand me?" She asked Timur in English.

"I´d have to be deaf if I didn´t." He replied with a scornful tone in his voice.

"You´re coming with us. Our commander has some questions."

"What choice do I have?" He sighed.

The other soldier took out her communicator and spoke a few words in German. They waited a few minutes when suddenly Timur´s communicator beeped.

He looked at the German soldiers but the one in charge just said:" Make sure to turn it on loud and don´t try anything stupid."

"Goddammit, Timur. Where´s my fire support?" Frost shouted through the communicator.

"I´m in a bit of a situation here. I´ll catch you later."

"Goddammit. Always leaving the hard work to me, aren´t you? (grumble) Alright, but you better have a good excuse."

Timur put away his communicator while the two German soldiers were talking to each other in a manner that got more and more nervous with any moment that passed.

"Tina sollte eigentlich schon längst hier sein. Hoffentlich ist ihr nichts zugestoßen."

„Wenn ich du wäre würde ich mir mehr Sorgen um uns machen. Wenn Tina nicht rechtzeitig kommt sind wir alle am Arsch."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a vehicle approaching their location.

Both of the soldiers nervously gripped their weapons but relaxed when the vehicle turned out to be a jeep of the German Military.

The jeep came to a halt in front of them and the driver´s door was opened.

"Na endlich, Tina. Ich dachte schon du kommst… Warte mal… Du bist ni-" Before she could finish her sentence, the driver had drawn his gun and ended the lives of the two soldiers with two quick shots into their heads.

"Did someone call a medic?" The driver then asked and took a look at the corpses. "I don´t think I can do anything for them." He clapped his hands. "Well, that´s life on the battlefield."

Timur meanwhile had recognized the voice of one of his closest friends.

"Lars." He exclaimed. "You can´t imagine how happy I am to see you. But what are you doing here anyway? Aren´t you supposed to patch up the wounded at the base?"

"I´m a doctor, not a paramedic." The Milition of the 112. Special Forces Division complained at that suggestion. "I may be able to provide first aid but I cannot do anything more for them if I have to use these pieces of scrap metal they call "surgery instruments". So when I finally was able to catch a break from all that first-aid-providing I jumped out a window and attempted to find you two. On the way I stumbled over a German jeep driver that just got the order to drive to some specific location in this city, so I decided to take the jeep. It took some time and all my skills in terms of fighting-in-a-vehicle but I managed to kill her and drove to that location. Imagine my surprise when I saw you."

Lars looked around for a moment before stating the obvious:" I can´t see Frost anywhere. Weren´t you supposed to be with him?"

Timur turned around to show Lars the spot where he and Frost had first encountered the sniper just in time to catch sight of Frost jumping from a nearby rooftop and onto another while a sniper tried to prevent him from doing so (unsuccessfully).

Frost crashed through the rooftop of the building the sniper was in and for a few moments there was silence.

"I see." Lars murmured before the silence was broken by a blood-curdling scream. A few moments later a corpse broke through the roof and landed on the pathway in front of them.

Frost followed not long after and landed on the corpse, breaking several vertebras of the already dead woman.

"You better have a good explanation for letting me fight that asshole sniper alone. Compared to us they may be noobs but there´s no denying that the Germans have one of the best armies in the world."

When he spotted Lars his tone changed from reproachful to aghast.

"Don´t tell me you chose a chat with Lars over my life."

"Well, I can´t tell what was going on in Timur but those two ladies certainly did." Lars said while stepping aside and revealing the corpses of the German soldiers. That effectively defused the situation and Frost went back to normal.

"I see. Then there´s no reason to waste any more time by standing around here. Lars, you think you can get that jeep running?"

"Of course."

They all entered the jeep with Lars and Frost taking the front seats and Timur taking the back row with his sniper rifle.

"So, Lars while we were up there in the Harz when we got that call." Frost said while they were driving through the snowy streets.

"I already know." Lars replied. "There´s that one German plane and we need to discuss if we should shoot it down. I wonder why you didn´t give permission to shoot it down. Judging by its current course it will fly over the city and we´d have no problems shooting it down."

"There may be a special person aboard that plane. If I´m wrong you can shoot down the plane whenever you want, but first I need to check."

"Did the Council devise another super-secret plan we´re not supposed to know anything about?"

"Yes, they did but it has nothing to do with this. This time I´m acting completely on my own behalf."

"I don´t think the Council is gonna like that, especially not in a situation like this."

"As if I care. If this works, the Council will be grateful."

"And if it doesn´t?"

"Then I´m screwed."

"You sound pretty optimistic. But nonetheless it would be better if you´d tell us what you have planned. Maybe we can help."

"You know, sometimes less is more. My "hidden agenda" basically consists of one thing to do: Talking to a certain person."

"And how exactly will make the Council thank you for that?"

"Maybe I should correct myself: You are going thank me."

"Now, if you´d explain that, I´d probably understand what you´re trying to say."

"Sometimes you only have to know what person you have to talk to. I attempt to speak to Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch. She´s currently at Harz Military Base and to understand what makes her so important you have to know her history. Although she is a member of Schwarzer Hase, she´s not a test-tube baby. She´s rather an intelligence officer who was given command of Schwarzer Hase until one of the members reached the age of eighteen and therefore the legal authority to take command of Schwarzer Hase. Her position during that time had one pivotal reason. As a member of the BND and the Ministry for the Protection of the Constitution or BVS she withheld the right to monitor all the members of the unit to find and suppress any signs of deviation. She did a good job as all members of Schwarzer Hase are completely loyal puppets of the German government."

"So what´s the point?" Lars asked when they stopped in front of the temporary headquarters.

"The point is that she holds significant influence within the German intelligence and military. If I do it right, I can distract her from the Red Star which will reduce the effort you have to make when it comes to dealing with the Germans." Frost answered while exiting the car on the right side.

"I see. Are you willing to share what you have in mind?"

"No." Frost said while he pushed open the steel door of the headquarters and proceeded to the Ops.

While Lars stood there like stunned Timur also exited the jeep and positioned himself next to him.

"The poor boy." Lars muttered. "He´s been out of the sickbed for no longer than five hours and he´s already overexerting himself."

"You know Frost. Whenever he´s putting his health on the line there´s something bigger behind it." Timur said with a trace of concern in his voice.

"It has to be very important to him. Until now he´s always told us if there was something he wanted to get done outside of his field of responsibility." Lars replied.

"It has to be something damn important if he´s not willing to tell us. Do you think it´s something personal? Something with his past?"

"Could be possible. But I´d rather not. Whenever it´s something personal with him, things tend to get out of hand. Add to that a "very" and I´m beginning to believe that he's planning genocide."

"I´d be more concerned about Frost rather than what he´s planning to do or not to do. When this ends like last time, all we can do is hope that the Council is in a good mood when they address that matter."

"Are you sure that there is nothing we can do to help him, should it come to the worst?"

"We can try. But we´ll either get vetoed by the Council or by Frost."

"You know, I have a feeling about what´s to come. A feeling that tells me that Frost will be relying on us more than ever when this is over."

"Just a feeling or did you plan something?"

"Just a feeling. But one with hope as it´s source. The hope that he´ll realize that he cannot be the lone wolf forever."

Timur sighed after that and let silence fill the air. He inhaled the cold air and exhaled again, watching the small cloud taking form before it disappeared again.

"Let´s head inside. All that fighting made me hungry." He said after a moment and both of them entered the building on the search for something edible.

After getting themselves something to eat they began searching for a favorable spot to enjoy their meal and their choice fell on the roof terrace.

Now they were sitting on the railing of the roof terrace, their feet dangling over the inner courtyard and their gazes focused on the wooded, snowy mountain slopes in the far background. Although it was a view to die for, Timur couldn´t quite come to enjoy neither the scenery nor his food.

"Come on Timur. You´ve been getting something to eat and you´re already losing focus." Lars snapped him back to reality.

"You´re probably right." He muttered while keeping his eyes trained at nothing in particular. "It´s just… I still have to think about what Frost said in the forest."

"What´d he say?" Lars asked out of pure curiosity.

"He said that his next mission would lead him very far away and that he wasn´t sure if he´d survive. He has promised to return but I´m not sure if he´s inclined to keep his promise. If it has something to do with his hidden agenda, chances are high that the next time we´ll see him, he´ll be in a coffin."

Lars continued chewing on his piece of bread before swallowing it and turning to Timur.

"Listen." He said while putting his hand on Timur´s shoulder. "I know you are worried about him and as a medic and your friend I can totally understand but I can assure you, he knows how to stay alive and he will not waste that knowledge. On top of that he can pack quite a punch. Also, his abilities to combat both superior and evenly matched enemies are second-to-none. If you ask me, I'd say he's the perfect soldier… Well, at least if you are able to overlook his occasional lack of respect towards superiors."

"That´s not it." Timur protested. "I know that he´s able to take care of himself and I would never dare to trust his combat ability. It´s just… deep inside me there is something… something that wants to keep him as far away from danger as possible. I´ve already lost one family. If even one member of my new one died… I wouldn´t be able to bear it… I´d probably become depressive or worse… Like Frost when he´s in Psycho Mode." He whispered the last part.

Suddenly someone began clapping his hands behind them and Timur turned around in shock to find himself face to face with Frost. He had removed his balaclava and the mouth protection of his helmet. This left only his eyes covered and Timur could see a smile forming in the lower part of his face.

"How touching." Frost said with an emotionless voice while the smile faded as fast as it had appeared.

"H-How long have you been standing here?" Timur stuttered.

"Since I heard someone praising my abilities as a soldier." He answered and looked at Lars while smiling. "I just wanted to inform you two that this plane is not going to be shot down. Someone very important is onboard of that plane."

"Important to whom?" Lars asked.

"To me." Frost said with a bit more harshness in his voice than appropriate in this situation. "Anyway, my most recent encounter with this person has shown that I need to become stronger if I ever want to stand a real chance against her."

He took a deep breath and continued. "Lars?"

"Yes?" The person spoken to turned his attention fully to Frost.

"I need one of the Injections."

For a moment there was nothing but silence and Timur anxiously waited for Frost´s lips to form a smile again to signal that it all had been a joke but no such thing happened.

Lars had evidently reached the same conclusion as Timur and was now turning around and hopped off the railing. He walked a few steps until he stood directly in front of Frost.

"You´re serious about this, aren´t you?" He asked Frost.

"Now more than ever." He replied.

"I´m going to prepare everything. However, it´ll probably take a few days, as those things will be flown here directly from the Motherland." Lars said and proceeded with his way downstairs, leaving Frost and Timur alone, the latter still shocked about what his friend had said a few moments ago.

Timur was looking at the ground and tried as good as possible to avoid looking into Frost´s face.

"I can´t believe you just did that." Timur said in a low voice. "You´ve taken a spear to the thigh and now you´re trying to kill yourself?"

Frost scratched the back of his helmet and said:" Your concern is touching but sometimes you can take it too far. You have to understand that if I don´t become stronger I´ll never stand a chance against her."

"I want to… but… I don´t understand… It can´t be… It just can´t be. No one should be willing to kill himself for something so… so…" He was cut off by Frost.

"Of course you don´t understand. You weren´t put through the stuff I had to go through. You have no idea how it is to experience rejection and betrayal. I, in return have been experiencing these things since the day I was born. But most important of all, you have no idea how it is to lose the person you love." Frost said and looked up into the sky. He sounded unusually infuriated.

"That´s a lie." Timur said.

"Explain." He demanded without turning his eyes away from the sky.

"I didn´t tell you until now because I never saw a moment in which it seemed appropriate, but I had parents too. I even had a little brother. All of them died during the Incident eleven years ago. My parents sacrificed themselves to make it possible for me and Cyril to escape but in the end it didn´t make a difference. Cyril was murdered before my eyes and I would have followed if it hadn´t been Aria."

At that, Frost suddenly moved his head downwards and began making large steps in Timur´s direction until he stood right in front of him and grabbed his collar.

"From where do you know Commander Rayashi?" He asked in a low voice.

"W-well, as I just said, she was the one that saved me from certain death. She and the 3rd Domestic Airborne Division. If it hadn´t been for them, none of my friends would be among the living right now."

"I see." Frost said and let go of his collar. "But that´s not what I was trying to say."

"Huh?"

"Say, Timur. Were you ever in love? Have you ever loved someone so badly that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with that person?"

"I was eight when I entered the military! There was no possible way I could have…"

"Answer my question."

"Well… No."

"See? There you have it. You´ve never been in love. But I was. And I lost him." Frost sighed and turned around.

While approaching the stairs he said:" I envy you, Timur."

With that he left the roof terrace.

Timur just stood there, his eyes trained at nothing in particular while he tried to figure out what got Frost so upset.

About five minutes later, the airplane hit the ground of the runway of Harz Military Base.

When Laura left the Airplane she was immediately greeted by Clarissa and Maia. Both of them saluted and Clarissa said:" It´s good to have you back, Captain. About fifteen minutes ago we received reports about an attack on one of our strike teams in Wernigerode. We were able to recover the footage of one of their helmet cams but nothing more."

Clarissa handed her a pad with the recovered footage.

The footage was shot from the helmet of a soldier who was standing next to a jeep and repeatedly looking at her watch. Suddenly a shot resounded through the area and a few moments later her communicator rang.

"Tina here. What´s the problem?"

"Get your ass over here. We found something interesting."

"Alright." The soldier said and put away her communicator. Upon entering the jeep, she heard something hit the ground on the other side of the vehicle. She drew her gun and went around the front of the vehicle to check the other side, but when she arrived there wasn´t anything there.

Suddenly someone grabbed her leg from underneath the jeep and pulled on it. The soldier managed to stay on her feet and shot the arm of the unknown attacker a few times before retreating into the jeep and starting its engines.

She looked behind the truck a few times and after driving for some time she let out a sigh of relief. Just then a metal claw broke through the window on her side and attempted to grab her but she was faster and pulled the attacker through the window while drawing her gun.

"Don´t shoot! I surrender." The soldier exclaimed in clearly audible German as he landed on her lap.

"That´s a problem." She replied.

"Why? I mean, we both live longer through that."

"Pfff, as if. Now get out of my lap before an accident happens."

The attacker tried to get to the other side of the front seat row without causing too much discomfort to the German soldier but his attempts had little impact on the soldier´s mood.

After taking his seat he remained silent while the soldier still pointed her gun at him. After some time he asked:" Do you mind if I bandage myself?"

"Why?" She asked.

"Well, you´re quite good at aiming and shooting." He said while pointing at his bloody left arm.

"Did you just compliment me?" She asked in a rather suspicious tone.

"Who knows?" He said and chuckled. "But seriously, answer my question."

"You can bandage yourself but don´t pull any tricks or else we both might end up dead."

She watched the attacker closely while he opened the pouch attached to his thigh and took out a small bandage.

As soon as he was done wrapping it around his arm the pain seemed to get alleviated and the soldier let out a sigh and said:" Thanks."

"For what?" The soldier asked.

"For letting my take care of my wounds. I don´t know many people who would let a POW bandage himself in a situation like this."

"Well, it seems that this is your lucky day." She scoffed. He only laughed at that.

"By the way, my name´s Lars. What´s yours?"

At that the soldier had to evade a bunch of rocks on the road. The tires screeched and she yelled:" Are you out of your mind? You cannot just… just ask something like this."

"Why not?" The soldier asked. "I´m going to jail anyway so I can do as I please."

On that, the soldier didn´t respond and instead chose to remain silent. After some more driving through the streets she asked the attacker:" Say, Lars. Did you mean that earlier really as a compliment?"

"I think it was more of a fact. But it´s sweet of you to think so." He answered and chuckled.

"Uh, okay." The soldier was noticeably confused. Despite the fact that he had been captured and was likely going to get interrogated, the attacker remained nice and friendly. Laura could sense a trap and her fears came true when the attacker suddenly stabbed the soldier who couldn´t react fast enough and was rendered hors de combat.

The attacker pushed her out the jeep and laughingly drove away. The soldier groaned in pain as she hit the concrete ground.

After a few more seconds she heard tires screeching followed by two shots and a little later a blood-curdling scream.

The soldier gasped in shock and tried to get up but her wound didn´t made it very easy.

After some time of stumbling-through-the-streets she eventually reached the place where she was supposed to meet her comrades. Much to her horror, all she could find were two bodies, each with a shot in its head.

The soldier collapsed and with that the recorded footage ended.

Clarissa took the pad and continued her report:" A little research has confirmed that this person is the leader of the Red Star task force that has attacked the Schwarzer Hase-HQ. We don´t know much about him except for that he seems to be of German ancestry. However, I´m more concerned about that guy we call the Lieutenant."

"Why that?" Laura asked curiously.

"He´s clashed with the worldwide authorities more than one time in the past and he´s managed to inflict considerable damage so far. He´s incredibly dangerous even if he´s not here right now. Should you ever happen to cross paths with him, you have to take him out immediately."

"Understood." Laura said. "Now tell me, where do I have to go to negotiate?"

"Well… Uhm… That´s another problem. The Red Star hasn´t send us any coordinates yet

"I guess I´ll just have to wait until anything happens."

"I might have a good idea, Captain."

"I´m all ears."

"There currently are some BND agents at the base with the goal of creating dossiers about the Red Star and its leadership. The White Star has told us that we have to begin examining the third level of their leadership if we want to stand a chance but it´s going to take some time. You´ve talked to the Lieutenant before, didn´t you?"

"Well, yes." Laura answered slowly.

"What can you tell us about him?"

"He´s a deranged lunatic, that´s for sure. He also possesses abnormal physical strength as seen during our battle at ISA. I would have checked the recordings, but strangely there didn´t seem to be any."

Laura clenched her fists as she spoke. "He must have known where the recordings are kept. There´s no other possible explanation."

"Deranged, calculating, possesses abnormal physical strength." Clarissa muttered as she wrote down said words. "Is there anything else?" She asked.

"No, but I'll do my best to get the information you need. I'll let you know once I have news." Laura replied.

Suddenly, Laura´s stomach made its presence known through a loud growl, making clear that she wouldn´t be able to last longer than a few hours if she didn´t manage to get something to eat.

On her way to the mess she ran into Emilie, one of her fellow soldiers.

"Greetings, Captain. May I ask where you are underway to?" The blonde girl asked in a submissive, typical for the military, tone.

"To the mess. I´m hungry." Laura replied briefly. Without another word she continued her march.

After taking a few more steps, however, she turned around and saw Emilie still standing there. Laura couldn´t tell exactly but she looked hungry.

"Did you eat anything onboard of the plane?" She asked curtly.

Emilie just shook her head and Laura sighed. Emilie was a rather shy girl, always waiting for and fearing other´s opinions. She was reliable in battle but outside the battlefield it took patience and understanding if one wanted to learn how to interact with her properly.

"Do you want to come to the mess with me?" Laura addressed her in a soft voice.

For a moment Emilie looked quite shocked, but after a moment her lips formed a smile and she nodded.

"Then come." Laura said and tilted her head into the direction of the mess.

The mess was filled with soldiers, either returning from battle and eating something in to recharge, or taking a small snack before heading out again.

Timur´s eyes hovered over the masses and small smile formed on his face only to fade away immediately. Despite the situation he was in, he couldn´t help but feel proud of his men. Despite waging a nearly forlorn war, these men had found the time to smile and laugh. Despite all the grief, hardship and pain they had experienced, they managed to keep living. He couldn´t help but be proud of them.

"Hey, Milition. What´s with that gloomy face?" A cheerful voice caused him to look up.

"Hi, Sara. I´m just thinking, that´s all." He responded.

At this point he really wasn´t open for an conversation, least with one of the second-most stubborn person he´d known, after Frost. If Sara had stuck with an idea she wasn´t likely to let go of it anytime soon.

"It´s gotta be something serious." She teased him. "C´mon, wanna sit with us? Jason currently has some of that red fruit jelly, I´m almost certain you´re gonna like it."

"Almost?" He raised his eyebrow. "I´m not convinced."

"Aww, you´re no fun." She pouted playingly. "C´mon. Whatever you´re worried about, it won´t become better if you just stand here and maintain that gloomy expression. Also, I doubt that you can do anything about it right now."

"What makes you think that?"

"If you could, you would have done a long time ago."

At that he had to smile. "You know me too well. (sigh) Alright, I´ll be coming with you."

Sara let out a cheer and grabbed his arm. She dragged him out of the mess and to the edge of the nearby field where he could see a small table with nine other persons sitting around it.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked a bit surprised as he recognized the persons sitting around the table.

"Well, the mess was full and stuffy, so we decided to steal a table and some sweets." Evie answered laughing. "Besides, you have to admit, having a midnight snack under the clear, starlit sky is alluring."

"Yeah, you´re right." Timur said as he looked up into the sky.

"C´mon, take a seat. I saved you some of that red fruit jelly." Jason said and Timur thankfully took the piece of food.

They sat beneath the night sky chatting, laughing and for a fraction of a second, Timur forgot all his worries.


	10. Traitors and Secrets

WARNING: **This Story contains sentences made with Google Translate (forgive me).  
**

 **You have been warned  
**

 **Also, I don´t own Infinite Stratos**

* * *

"We need to get the fuck outta here." Dexter whispered.

"Be quiet. Or do you want those maniacs over there to spot us?" Scott replied in a sharp voice.

"Too late. A group of ten heavily armed soldiers is approaching."

"If you are playing another prank…" Scott said in a threating tone as he raised his head a bit to peak over his cover.

Much to his dismay, Dexter was telling the truth. The mercenaries were approaching the house from the front. Despite it being in the middle of the night right now, he could see their white uniforms clearly and without problems.

Scott had to come up with something quickly.

"We need to get to the back part of the house as quickly as possible and without drawing any attention. Once we find a window I´ll jump out and you´ll throw the machine gun as soon as I´m back on my feet. Then you´ll follow behind me." He whispered to Dexter.

"Alright." He whispered back.

Dexter grabbed the machine gun while Scott began crawling into the direction of the next door. As soon as he reached the door he shifted into a crouching position and reached for the doorknob.

With a creak the door shifted open and both continued their way through the wrecked building.

As both of them entered the next room Scott turned around closed the door.

He could hear the mercenaries breaking through the door and windows in the ground floor.

"Do we really have to do this? We´ve been sweeping through the ruins non-stop for hours now and all we´ve found was a broken barrel of rum and a cat."

"Orders were clear. We´re going back to HQ only if we check every single house no matter how many floors it´s lost."

"Even if we find anything, it´ll probably be something that´s not worth our while."

The mercenaries continued to argue, while Scott tried to unlock the door that led to the back part of the building. Meanwhile, Dexter had leant his machine gun against a nearby wall. However, it didn´t lean straight and fell off to the side.

When the gun hit the ground it fired a number of shots that hit the wall.

"Idiot." Scott managed to say when the voices from downstairs became loud again.

"Does this sound like a civilian to you?"

"Not really."

"Alright, everyone. Upstairs! Formation Armadillo."

"Sir, Yes, Sir." Their voiced echoed through the house and Scott could hear the rattling of sound of their equipment.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. Dexter, give me the machine gun."

Dexter handed him the machine gun and Scott began using its buttstock as a battering ram.

"What are you doing? That´s one of the few light machine guns we have at our disposal right now."

"We can repair the buttstock when we´re back at the base. Right now, all that matters is to get out of here alive."

After delivering a few more blows the door swung open, right as the mercenaries began ascending the staircase.

"Two Men at twelve o´clock. Both of them are armed." One of them shouted.

"Immobilize them and take them to the base for questioning." Came a voice from a bit further behind.

"Aye, Sir."

"Shit. Did you hear that?" Dexter asked while they ran through the corridors of the building.

"Better for us. They have to be more careful if they don´t wanna kill us." Scott replied while running along the windows in search for a good place to jump out.

Just as he found a spot where there was some rubble underneath, that reduced the height they had to jump from, the mercenaries entered the corridor.

"Over there." One of them shouted.

Hastily, Scott leaned over the edge of the broken window and spotted a ledge that was high enough to stand on when climbing out the window.

He broke away the rest of the window and began his descent.

He managed to get his feet on the ledge and let go of the other ledge above him. As he did so he heard machine gun fire from above him and it became obvious that the mercenaries had already surrounded Dexter.

As he hit the ground he drew his pistol and shouted:" Throw the machine gun. I´ll cover you."

"I don´t think so." Someone called out from behind him.

He turned around and it took him a moment to realize that he was looking into the barrel of an T-14 Armata.

"So, what will it be? Blown to pieces or disarmed?" The mercenary, standing next to the tank, asked with a spiteful tone.

Scott grumbled as he threw away his gun.

"Good boy." The mercenary replied.

A few moments later the other mercenaries came around the building alongside Dexter. Much to Scott´s surprise they hadn´t done anything to reduce his capability of fleeing.

"So, where´d you dig those two up?" The tank commander asked the other mercenaries.

"One of our reconnaissance UAVs happened to pick up some heat signatures outside the camps, so we thought to ourselves: Why don´t go and check it out?"

"In every case it was a smart decision. We´ve got some new potential recruits and even if they refuse, their bodies still can be made into enough graphene for a bulletproof vest." At that the mercenaries laughed and Scott didn´t knew what to feel in this situation.

"I´m sorry to interrupt this little meeting, but I´d be grateful if you´d release my men." A familiar voice came from the direction of the tank.

Confused, all of them turned and although Scott couldn´t see the speaker in the dark of the night, he knew that it was Jacob, their local cell commander.

"Who are you and how did you get in the tank?" The mercenary asked outraged.

"None of your concern. Now leave, if you don´t want to get blown to pieces."

"You little…" The mercenary commander said, teeth gritting, and was about to draw his gun when one of the mercenaries grabbed his wrist.

"Sir, we´ve just received news of an outbreak attempt at Camp-D. It´s recommended that we go there ASAP."

For a moment there was silence, until the commander sighed and said:" Alright, we´ll crush that pitiful outbreak and come back for the tank."

They turned around and ran off into the direction of the beach.

"Hurry up and jump on. The Administrator is already waiting." Jacob said and none of them wasted any more time by waiting around.

"So, how exactly did you get a hold of that tank?" Scott asked Jacob while they drove through the firestorm-plagued streets.

"Oh, it was easy. I just waited ´till the commander looked away and then I jumped in. You should´ve seen the driver´s face." He laughed.

"What exactly are we going to do once were at the base?"

At that, Jacob just shrugged.

"I honestly don´t know. The city is living hell right now. Although we managed to survive the first wave of bombers, there is still heavy fighting going on in every part of the district. It´s a wonder that we didn´t get between the fronts until now."

"You don't´ say. Dexter and I experienced four different firefights while in our hideout. It´s a wonder that none of the combatants noticed us, although some of them were even fighting in the ground floor of the building we were in. That makes me wonder: Why did those mercenaries find us just now, that the front has moved inland a large bit?"

"The bombings may have decreased by now, but don't let that deceive you. Those occasional explosions and roars you hear over time aren´t tanks or jet fighters. The mercenaries have switched their tactics. Instead of bombers they are now using reconnaissance UAVs to find any persons that have survived the initial bombardment. Once they have located the persons, they first send in a small team to make out the size and grade of weaponization. Then they try to take them out and if this doesn´t work out, they send in a bomber."

"I see. From where do you know all that?"

" I got to witness it myself."

At that Scott fell silent and stayed it for the rest of the ride.

When they arrived at a bridge, Jacob stopped the tank and got off.

"Where are you going?" Scott asked.

"We need to go to foot from here. You did hear the mercenary commander, didn´t you? He´s going to come back for the tank."

"But… How does he know where we are?"

"All of those tanks have an in-built tracking device. If we try to remove it, it´ll cause a short circuit and we´ll either get cooked or blown up."

"Uh… I see."

Scott and Dexter got off the tank and followed Jacob who was already climbing up a dirt wall.

Once they were on top of the dirt wall, Jacob led them to a roundabout traffic and onto the street located behind it.

After some more walking, they came to a small avenue at which´s end he could see the Prison Monsanto.

The prison was secretly Phantom Task´s headquarters in the region thanks to a corrupt director and a bunch of prisoners. The actual headquarters were located under the earth while the prison facility would be used as a battlefield to allow evacuation into the underground part. Once the evacuation was complete, all main entrances would be blocked off and the forces would have to resort to using the emergency exits if they wanted to get outside.

When they approached they suddenly noticed a number of flashes in the night sky and after short break, something burning began approaching the ground.

An old F-35 jet fighter crashed into the street ahead of them. A little bit further above was an IS, watching over and searching the area for any signs of hostile activity.

"Is that one of ours?" Scott asked.

"Negative." Jacob replied. "That´s the Cidadão Vigilante; Portugal´s only IS with core."

"Took them long enough."

"Shut up. I want to see what happens."

The IS was about to fly away, when a railgun missile broke through one of the many rooftops and hit the IS in its back.

Visibly infuriated, the pilot turned her IS around and attempted to strike the source of the attack.

However, when she dove back to an altitude of about 50 meters, she was struck by yet another railgun missile, again in the back.

The pilot turned around another time, only to be hit by two railgun missiles, both of them striking into her flanks.

The pilot began to blindly shoot into the surroundings until something caught her attention.

On the crossroads beneath her stood a mercenary. He wasn´t shooting at her or even holding a weapon. Instead he seemed to be shouting at the IS pilot.

"What´s he saying?" Scott asked.

"I don´t know, but it seems to be something Arabic."

"But why is he just standing there? Is he trying to get himself killed or what?"

"No, he´s trying to draw attention."

"To distract from something else?"

Scott´s question was answered when a massive light-blue beam suddenly struck the IS from above. It was so bright, he had to put his hands on his eyes.

When the light had settled the IS was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the IS?"

"Gone. And if we waste any more time, we'll be too."

"I did. And if we spend any more time outside here we´ll likely fall victim to whatever that was too."

"Understood." Scott replied and they made their way into one of the houses at the edge of the street.

Inside the house, Scott began looking around for a certain lever.

When he finally found the lever he pulled it and a voice sounded from a loudspeaker somewhere in the room.

"What´s the code word?"

"Open the damn hatch if you don´t want to your ass kicked because of failure to open an entrance." Jacob snorted.

"Not exactly what we´ve told you this morning, but it´ll do." The voice replied and Scott had got the feeling that the person talking had put on a smile.

One of the shelfs in the room began moving aside, revealing a tube behind it. All three Phantom Task operatives entered tube.

The shelf closed behind them as they made their way through the dimly lit and stuffy tube, that was called a tunnel on official maps. Whoever had the idea to do so, should be fired in his opinion.

Finally, they reached the actual base and although the lighting was as bad as in the tube, Scott was glad to have some more space underneath, above and beside him.

Upon entering the Ops they spotted the Administrator standing at the holographic table, studying the map of Lisbon and conversing with other cell members

When she heard them enter, she lifted her head.

"It´s good to see you all alive, especially you Jacob." She said with a trace of relieve in her voice.

"The pleasure is all mine. But let´s not get distracted and jump straight to the point. I take it you´ve noticed what has been going on above us only a few minutes ago."

"We did and we´re deeply concerned. Whatever that was, can not only strike IS but also tanks, ships and military facilities. And the fact that there were four tanks with railguns hidden in the buildings around the prison tells me that this was a well-planned trap and not some improvisation."

"That means the death of that jet pilot was planned?"

"He´s not dead." The surveillance officer spoke up while pointing at one of his screens.

On the screen could be seen how a mercenary in pilot gear was being provided medical care in front of the prison.

"I see." Jacob muttered. "That means, despite their ruthless methods, they still care for their men."

"Just like us." Scott remarked but Jacob and the Administrator only broke into laughter at that.

"Did I do something wrong?" Scott asked confused.

"In a certain way, yes." Jacob replied while laughingly gasping for air.

"It´s just so cute to see such naivety." The Administrator said.

"You know, the members of Phantom Task aren´t treated as well as here everywhere else." Jacob turned back to a normal tone.

"Indeed." The Administrator continued. "It always depends on the cell commander. After all, he´s the guy to organize the living-together of his fellow cell members. If you have a nice guy with life experience like Jacob, you´re on the safe side but not all cell commanders are nice or tolerant."

"It always depends on if they care for their men or not." Jacob said.

"That´s not right." The Administrator interrupted. "Sometimes, the cell members are completely incompetent. And then it´s the task of their commanders to keep the cell from splitting apart."

"You´re talking of Squall Meusel, aren´t you?" Jacob asked curious.

"Indeed I am."

"Who?" Scott interrupted.

"Squall Meusel is the commander of one of our cells in the Nagasaki Prefecture." The Administrator explained.

"I got to work with her once." Jacob recounted. "During our time together she told me that there was no day where her cell members weren´t at each other´s throat."

"Are they really that bad?"

"If I remember right, both of them see each other as conceited brats, so yeah, they are bad."

"Phew, now I´m glad to be stationed here."

"You can be glad, indeed. Some of our men out there have it much worse than any of us right now."

"I hate to interrupt but someone´s calling through a secure line." The communications officer said. "It´s the other cell commander." He added a moment later.

"Put her through." The Administrator ordered.

"Yes, Ma´am."

Unfortunately, there was only an audio connection available.

"Is that you, Stephanie?" The Administrator asked.

"Affirmative." A distorted voice answered.

"Where the hell are you? Jacob and Scott are already here and they were a lot farther from here than you when that mess began."

"Sorry for not reporting in, but we have found something interesting."

"I don´t know what could be so important to put your life on line."

"We´ve found (static). Putting it on screen now."

A wide square appeared on the screen with some occasional white noise distorting the picture for a few moments at a time. On the square stood a large number of mercenaries. All of them were standing still like during an inspection and a single person stood in front of them.

"Does somebody recognize that place?" The Administrator asked the room´s occupants.

"It´s the Commerce Square near Alfama." Jacob said.

"That´s right." Stephanie said. "While we were fleeing through the city , we managed to take down a mercenary of the Red Star and he had a piece of paper with orders for all members of a certain "KK Rotfuchs" to gather at Commerce Square. That´s why we´re here right now. We´ve got one of these wasp drones with mic and cam and we´ll gladly take a closer look if you´d allow us."

After a brief period of silence the Administrator sighed and said:" Alright, but at the slightest sign of danger you will retreat, no matter what."

"Roger that."

The drone with size if insect lifted into the air and began its journey towards the mercenary force. After a while it landed on the shoulder of one of the mercenaries who was talking to the person next to him.

"Was glaubst du, worum gehts?"

„Du bist neu hier, nicht wahr? Weißt du, wir heißen nicht umsonst Killerkommando Rotfuchs. Füchse werden im Allgemeinen als hinterhältig angesehen und oft wird ihnen die Eigenschaft der Ehrlosigkeit zugesprochen. Es hat dir wahrscheinlich noch niemand gesagt aber wenn das hier vorbei ist werden wir zusammen mit den Killerkommandos Eisfuchs und Fennek die Portugiesische Regierung jagen und hinrichten um der Welt zu beweisen was wir draufhaben."

„Verstehe."

Both of them now looked at the man standing in front of the mercenary assembly.

"Comrades." He shouted. "You have done an excellent job. Thanks to your hard work and unyielding will to fight for a better world, our men have been able to capture the largest part of Lisbon. Now, as we steadily push towards the final enemy strongholds, we have to make the next step. We need to punish those that let this world go to waste."

"OOH-RAH!"

The mercenaries lifted their left arms into the air with their fists clenched and shouted what was obviously their battle cry. After that, they began marching off the square and into the destroyed Lisbon, when their commander shouted:" Squad Rotfuchs-1-1, you´re coming with me."

The soldiers spoken to turned around and followed the commander into the office.

The little wasp drone lifted off the shoulder of the mercenary and turned around to follow said mercenaries.

They entered a building at the eastern side of the square and marched into the second floor, where the commander opened a room with a holographic table and several chairs in it.

"Take a seat." He said and the mercenaries sat down. He then stepped behind the table and activated it. The hologram of a middle-aged woman with ponytail shimmered into existence.

"Do you know who this is?" The commander asked.

Every single mercenary shook his head.

"Well, I can´t hold that against. I didn´t knew her as well, up until a few hours ago, when my superiors finally revealed our side goals. This woman is one of them. Alongside the other heads of state, of course. And before you ask, no she´s not the president. She´s the head researcher of Portugal´s IS-R&D department. She and other important members of Portugal´s government are attempting to flee the city right now, and they could get through. If she gets away, Portugal will shamelessly continue to put people´s lives on the line for a weapon that stands for only two things: Androcide and repression."

While he spoke, the drone had settled down on the shoulders of one of the mercenaries but he confused it with a real wasp and tried to remove it but Stephanie managed to dodge his every attack.

"Is there a problem, soldier?" The commander asked when he noticed the struggles of his man.

"Just a pesky wasp, that´s all." He replied.

"A wasp, hm? I think I have something for that." The commander said and went into the room next door. After a few moments he came back with something that looked a spray can. Then the mercenary tried to get the wasp off another time and Stephanie steered the wasp out of his attack range.

However, when the wasp had climbed over the heads of the mercenaries, the commander took the can and pressed a button on its top.

A salvo of blue-glowing beams left the can and as they hit the wasp the screen went white.

"What kind of spray was that?" They heard Stephanie ask.

For a moment there was silence until Jacob muttered something indistinct.

"What?" The Administrator asked.

"They need to get out of there!" Jacob said with horror arising in his voice.

"What´s going on?" Stephanie asked.

"No time to explain. Get out of there. NOW!"

"Alright." Stephanie said and the connection was cut and a few seconds later a red dot appeared on the holographic map. It began moving away from the square and into the direction of the HQ.

Suddenly, the dot stopped and didn´t move, so the Administrator attempted to build up another communications channel.

"Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?" She asked but all she got in response was white noise and a few fragments of sound. There were only two intelligible words: Under attack.

"This doesn´t sound good. Jacob, Scott, I´ll alert the combat squads. We need to save them as quick as possible."

"Understood, Ma´am." They both replied and began heading into the direction of the garage.

When they arrived, four squads were already waiting alongside a number of LUVs. All of them had a light machine gun mounted on top of them. Judging by looks, all of them were able to shoot plasma bolts.

"Great." Jacob said. "With that, we´ll have no problem taking those mercs out." He raised his voice. "Alright, let´s move out."

They left the base through the west gate and entered the battle-torn city.

"Is it just me or does the city look even more fucked up than when we entered the base?" Scott asked Jacob who was sitting at the MG in his vehicle.

"Can´t tell exactly but I´d say that this place has definitely seen better times." He replied.

After some more driving, Scott suddenly felt the temperature drop by an unusual amount. He also noticed that they were close to the last known location of Stephanie and her squad.

Suddenly, the convoy stopped.

"What´s going on? Why aren´t we driving further?" Jacob shouted.

"You should take a look at that, Sir." One of the drivers in the front part shouted back.

The sight that presented itself to them was unlike anything Scott had ever seen before.

In front of them was a hedgerow with a tree in the middle, splitting it in two. All in one a pretty normal sight if it weren´t for the fact that the back half of the tree was enveloped in a thick layer of ice, shimmering under the pale moonlight.

"What the…?" Scott asked when he came to halt in front of the tree.

"Hey, take a look at this." Jacob said and pulled back a few branches, previously blocking their sight.

"No way…" Scott said as his jaw dropped a few meters.

He was looking upon a small pathway leading to a housing block centered around a small lake. It was a beautiful and yet terrifying sight.

Terrifying because every single square centimeter of ground was covered in a thick ice layer.

"That´s somehow creepy." Jacob noted.

"We don´t have to go in there, do we?" Scott asked worried.

After a quick look on his holographic wrist-map, Jacob sighed and said:" It looks like the last known position of Stephanie is right in the center of this… creepy ice-snow-thingy."

After cursing in his mind a few times, Scott turned around and re-entered his vehicle.

The front vehicle broke through the hedgerow and they made their way into the frozen area of Lisbon.

"Just how big is this ice layer?" Scott asked after he finally lost patience.

Before his question could be answered, his vehicle collided with the LUV in front of it.

"What is it now?" He asked annoyed when he got out of the LUV.

"I had to break in order not to collide with the person in front of me." Jacob said, also leaving the vehicle and inspecting the damage.

"Looks like you had a good reason to." Scott said as he spotted the cause of the sudden halt.

The front LUV was only centimeters apart from what looked like an ice pillar from afar but in reality was a frozen person.

The person had stretched out her arm and was pointing at something. Her mouth was wide open. She had probably tried to warn someone in her final moments.

"Looks like we found Stephanie and her squad." Jacob said and pointed at a bunch of other frozen persons only meters behind the first one.

Scott was still looking at the frozen person that was pointing at something in the distance. He touched her hand to see if there was still any warmth left and jumped when her whole hand fell off.

He stood there, looking at the hand for a moment before saying:" Alright, men. Make yourself at home. Send some patrols to scout our surroundings. Whatever has killed them can´t be far. Jacob, you´re coming with me. I want to know if there´s something at the location where she was pointing at."

Jacob nodded and followed Scott up the little stair that was leading directly to a small balcony.

Upon arrival they didn´t find anything useful. All of the place was covered in an ice layer just like the rest of the area. All except for one location.

Behind them there was a small artificial forest. On the edge where balcony and forest met, there was a puddle and the air there was considerably warmer.

"Something was here." Scott said as he inspected the puddle.

"Something big." Jacob added when he noticed the lane that trail of overturned trees leading directly into the forest. It was too big for a car-sized vehicle and too small to be the landing field of an helicopter, so the only logical explanation was that it had been a tank.

Before any of them could say anything there was an explosion could be heard in the near distance.

"The fuck?"

"That´s just around the next corner. Should we risk a look?" Scott asked.

"It´s probably the one that also slaughtered our comrades. We´ll have to be careful if we don´t want to end up the same way." Jacob replied.

"Then let´s go."

On their way, they picked up one squad and a LUV, in case that they would run into a trap.

When they arrived at the estimated source of the explosion, a shiver went down Scott´s spine.

The ice right in front of them had cracked and parts of corpses were scattered all over the place. Even some blood was pouring out of some of them.

"Looks like we came just moments too late to witness an execution." Jacob noted after inspecting the crime scene closer.

"Those were civilians." Scott realized after his gaze fell on a corpse that still had all of its four limbs.

"Looks like it. So, what´re we going to do?"

"Whoever that was, he can´t be far. Go search the area."

"That won´t be necessary."

They turned around to a mercenary standing atop of a rock and smiling spitefully.

"Are you the one that executed those helpless men and women?" Jacob stepped forward.

At that, the mercenary had to chuckle.

"I wouldn´t call it execution. It was more of an accident. Landmines are a common thing to be found here in these days."

"They were civilians!" Scott exclaimed in shock.

"They deserved to die." The mercenary replied vigorously. "Just like the rest of your pathetic organization." He spat out. "Phh, misusing power and thinking that no one would dare to take measures. You will all pay for your crimes alongside the dogs that dare to call themselves humans."

"You know, there´s no crime of you do not get caught." Jacob said in a calm, yet vicious manner.

"True, true." The mercenary replied chuckling. "But sometimes you have to fear simpler things than detainment. Things like death, for example."

Suddenly, he turned around and jumped off the rock.

"Get down." Jacob shouted and Scott took cover in the hole that had been blown by the landmine that had exploded previously.

Only moments later, a hidden tank opened fire and scored its first hit.

The LUV exploded and took several Phantom Task members with it.

The other Phantom Task members that had been left around the corner had noticed too and a few moments later, a full-fledged firefight had arisen in the streets of Lisbon.

There were around eight mercenaries supported by a tank on a nearby, wooded slope, opposing about 17 Phantom Task fighters, including Scott and Jacob.

Despite their numerical advantage, they didn´t score any hits against the mercenaries, as they had barricaded themselves in the surrounding buildings. Attacks with the plasma guns were useless against the tank, as it was always changing position after delivering a shot and with each of them it took out at least one Phantom Task fighter.

Their numbers decreased for the next minutes until only four others as well as Jacob and Scott were left.

Suddenly, someone shouted that the mercenaries were retreating and, as a matter of fact, they were. They had formed a line with their bullet shields and were slowly marching backwards, out of the danger zone.

After waiting for another moment, Scott took the risk and climbed out of the hole.

He took a look around and saw how Jacob and the other uninjured fighters were busy patching up the wounded.

After some time, Jacob turned away from his work and went to Scott.

"Phew, that was close. If that had kept going just for a minute we´d be dead." He said.

"You´re right. Still, I wonder how they were able to intercept us. Unless someone told them, I don´t see a way how they could have known that we sent a rescue force."

"We just arrived at an unlucky time. You see, they were busy lining up and executing civilians and…"

"How where these civilians even alive? We´re miles away from the edge of this ice… thing. Shouldn´t they have been frozen too? Also, how did you know that they were attacking? You gave the command to get down, moments before the fight even began."

"Are you trying to say that I am the one who told them? That´s bullshit."

"Then how did you know that they were going to attack us?"

"If a mercenary tries to get out of your line of sight, you can be sure that something bad is going to happen."

"Still, you reacted faster than you should have."

"I have to admit, you´re smarter than you look." With these words, Jacob drew his gun and pointed it at Scott.

Immediately, Scott did the same and the remaining Phantom Task fighters also pointed their weapons at Jacob.

As he noticed this he grumbled something and threw away his gun.

Two fighters approached from behind and pulled his arms on his back. Scott took out his communicator.

"HQ, do you read me? We have identified Cell Commander Jacob as traitor and are taking him in. There´s no need for reinforcements."

No answer.

"HQ, please respond." Scott said, louder this time.

"They can´t hear you." Jacob said and chuckled.

Scott tried one more time before putting away the communicator and turning around to Jacob.

"What did you do?" He asked infuriated.

"Oh, I didn´t do anything." Jacob replied smiling. "It just happened that somehow a lot of Sarin reached the ventilation system of your base and killed everyone there."

At that, the throats of the two men, holding Jacob were slid open and they fell to the ground. A few moments later the same thing happened to the other two that were left.

Jacob pushed off the corpses of the two Phantom Task operatives and picked up his gun.

At the same time, someone rammed a buttstock into the back of Scott´s head and he fell to the ground.

A few moments after that, Dwight and his men decloaked and the soldiers immediately began dragging away the corpses.

"Great job, Jacob." Dwight said as he patted his shoulder. "Now tell me again why we should leave this one alive."

"He´s a good person. If you had worked with him like I did, you would have known that he would make a perfect soldier. His only mistake was to enter this war from the wrong side. However, I think I can persuade him to join our cause."

"Well, I have no experience in the field of recruitment so I´m gonna put all my trust into your judgement. Just be careful, okay? He´s Phantom Task, so there´s still the possibility that he´ll try to betray us and flee back to them."

"I am well aware of that. That´s a risk we take with every person we chose to spare and recruit. Milition Sergey has planned on taking our new recruits back to the Motherland once this is all over to let them see what they are fighting for. He thinks he can eliminate their doubts that way and I have to admit, he stands a pretty high chance with that."

"I see. We´ll be taking Scott to one of the interrogation rooms aboard of the Gamma Velóna. You´ll be informed as soon as he wakes up. If you´ll excuse us now. I think you have to oversee some executions."

"Of course, Decurion."

With that, the comrades in arms parted, Jacob making his way to the front lines and Dwight and his squad heading back to the ship that their division was stationed on to resupply and deliver Scott to the interrogation chamber.

About an hour later, Scott woke up with a hammering sensation in his head.

He was sitting in a small room with only one table and two chairs and a mirror on the wall that faced him. He had seen this design before and a light shaking feeling indicated that he was located on a ship.

For quite a time, nothing happened but suddenly a previously invisible door opened and a very well-known person entered the room.

At that sight, Scott wanted to jump up and put his hands around his throat but he noticed that his hands were cuffed to the table.

Jacob just sat down in front of him and for a time, said absolutely nothing.

"What do you want?" He asked in an ominously low voice.

Jacob kept silent a little longer before sighing and saying:" You are in no position to ask any questions right now. Also, my interests are irrelevant. Much more important is what you want. Do you want to leave this conversation dead or alive?"

"If you´d just killed me, you wouldn´t have to ask this question."

"That may be true, but do you know why I left you alive?"

"I´d rather not, traitor."

Jacob buried his face in his hands and sighed another time before asking:" Why did you join Phantom Task?"

"You´re one to ask. I´ve told you once and I´m not going to make that mistake again."

"Listen, if you want me to blow a hole in your head, just say it, alright? But don´t waste my time with insults and nonsense. I am here to give you an opportunity."

"What could you possibly give to me after all that happened? You were my commanding officer, you were an idol and there were times when I even saw you as a friend. Do you know how much it hurts to lose everyone except for one person and that person is the cause for all your losses? I can assure you, it´s not pleasant."

"What if I told you that I feel the same way about you? That I don´t only see you as accomplice like those ratbags, but as a comrade and a friend. Would you then be inclined to turn your back at those that are only using you?"

"Is it any different in your organization?"

"There´s no exact answer to that question. Some people think so and others don´t, depending on who they are. I think you should see on that yourself. However, there´s one more question you need to answer."

"I´m listening."

"Can I trust you when I take those handcuffs off?"

"Only if I´m going to like what you´ll show me."

"It would be a shame for the both of us if you didn´t." Jacob replied while removing the handcuffs.

After the handcuffs had been removed, Scott rubbed his wrists and stood up.

"So, what´s next on the schedule?"

"I´d like to give you a tour of our ship, the _Gamma Velóna_. Now follow me." Jacob said as they both left the interrogation chamber.

Outside, Scott couldn´t help but be impressed. The ship´s interior was different from anything that would fit to the description of a warship. Instead of being narrow and dimly lit, the corridor was broad enough to fit in at least three people next to each other and had one constant ray of LEDs on each side that reached until its very end. Also, the doors were missing the awfully high threshold that could normally be found on warships.

"Impressed?" Jacob asked him with a smile on his face.

"That I am indeed." Scott replied.

"You know what´s great? It´s like that in at least two thirds of the ship."

Scott was about to say something when Jacob turned around to a voice that seemed to be familiar to him.

Behind them stood a tall man with very short, blonde hair. He was speaking English with a clearly audible, Slavic accent.

"Jacob, my friend. It´s good to see you." He said.

"Milition." Jacob said and saluted.

"Oh, please. There´s no need to be so formal. I´m off duty right now. May I ask who that man is?" He asked while pointing at Scott.

"Of course. That´s Scott. He´s a former Phantom Task cell commander and I brought him here because I think that he might be a useful recruit for our cause."

"I see. Is he trustworthy?"

"Uh… er… How should I put it? He has… difficulties to decide which side to choose."

"Ya ponimayu. I think I know someone who can help him with that."

At that, the man turned around and took his communicator. He began speaking Spanish to someone and to Scott it sounded like he was asking him to come to where he was right now."

He put away his communicator and said:" Alright, now all we have to do is wait."

A few minutes later, a young man with short, black hair came into sight and walked directly into their direction. He stopped in front of the man and said something in Spanish.

"I´m here. Qué debo hacer?"

"Ves eso?" The man replied while pointing at Scott. "Su nombre es Scott. Él todavía tiene algunas dificultades. Quizás puedas ayudarlo."

"I understand."

Despite the both of them talking in Spanish, Scott was able to understand one or two parts of their conversation. As they were done talking the young man turned to Scott and said:" My name´s Louis. It´s a pleasure to meet you."

"I could say that too but then I´d be lying. Say, Louis, are you here voluntary?"

"Yes, I am. Though, I don´t really appreciate what they´ve been doing to the city, I see a great opportunity in joining this organization. What about you?"

"Well… me? You could say it wasn´t my first choice to get here."

The taller man laid his hand on Louis´ shoulder and said:" Entonces te dejaremos en paz, esta bien?"

"Si." Louis replied.

"Do you speak Spanish?" Scott asked Louis as Jacob and the other man walked away.

"Yes, my grandfather was an immigrant that came from Spain to Portugal for god-knows-what reason. There he met an enchanting Portuguese woman and boom: There was the foundation for my family. Though, I don´t really like to talk about that."

"Very well, let´s find another topic. If I understood right, then you are supposed to persuade me to join this organization voluntarily."

"All I can do is show you the advantages. The biggest of them all is probably that you get to live another day."

"Does that mean I get killed if I refuse to join?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But you won´t get killed as punishment for not joining but rather because… Uhh… How am I supposed to explain it?"

"Just let it be, alright? When I´m dead I don´t have any reason to care about it anyway."

"Yeah, you´re probably right. As for the other reasons… I don´t know much about them too. I was recruited only an hour prior to the outbreak of this mess. I don´t know if you´re gonna like them, but all the people I´ve meet so far seem to be very nice."

"Alright, which of these so-called nice people, do you think I should meet first?"

"That´d be Alexandros."

"Who?"

"Alexandros is the first officer on this this ship. As such he bears quite the responsibility but despite the importance of his job, he´s able to maintain a friendly attitude, no matter the situation. If you catch him in a bad mood, you can consider yourself the luckiest person alive."

While Louis and Scott went to meet Alexandros, Sergey was leaning against the railing on top of one of the ship´s main guns and taking sips from a bottle of kvass. Suddenly, he heard the hatch behind him open. He turned around and saw how Jacob climbed out of the turret´s command chamber. Instead of his Phantom Task uniform he was now wearing his MRISF uniform and seemed to be glad that he wasn´t wearing this "infernal contraption" (like Caelus had always called Phantom Task uniforms) anymore.

"How´s the kvass?" He asked him while closing the hatch and locking it.

"If Alexandros wanted to poison me, he could´ve said it. Seriously, it´s terrible." Sergey replied but after a second he added:" But I appreciate the gesture. Especially, when considering how tight the restrictions on alcohol are within our organization."

"Seriously, you´re still in with this we-are-a-terror-organization stuff?" Jacob asked while pulling a pack of cigarettes out of one of his vest pockets.

"I am and I don´t plan on abandoning this habit any time soon." Sergey replied and took another sip from his kvass.

"Is that because you´re half-drunk or do you actually have a reason to do so?"

"Do you even want to know?"

"A little enlightenment wouldn´t be bad."

"Do you want the complicated the or the plain explanation."

"The more the better."

"Alright. By talking like that I want to achieve that my brain begins to see this picture of our organization as the truth, so I don´t accidentally reveal any information when captured."

"And you really think this is going to work?"

"Better safe than sorry."

"You´re probably right." Jacob said chuckling and after a moment let out a small curse. "Mierda! I forgot my lighter. Do you have some fire?"

"Sure." Sergey said and handed Jacob his lighter.

"So, why did you rescue Louis from the assault?" Jacob asked while lighting up his cigarette.

"You´re one to ask." Sergey replied chuckling. "Contrary to your "protégé" he´s already opted to join our organization and doesn´t pose a security risk. So, before I answer your question you answer mine."

"Alright. I rescued Scott because, despite his, let´s say difficult, attitude, he´s actually a great leader and would be a perfect decurion. Now it´s your turn." Jacob said and lightly nudged Sergey into the side.

"If you want to hear something about great leadership qualities or understanding of warfare, then I have to disappoint you." Sergey said with a little smile on his face. "Louis simply is a nice guy and has experienced things he didn´t deserve. He´s lost his family because of one crazy, self-proclaimed genius and I think that deep inside, he´s never really coped with this. I want to give him the opportunity to give up his old life and start a new one, with a new family, new friends and a new view on the world."

"You mean just like we did when we volunteered to join the ATAF?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Man, I didn´t think you could talk like that. I remember you completely different from the time we were instructors at Bad Frostbergen Academy."

"Popula et tempora mutant, Jacob." Someone said from behind.

Surprised, both of them turned around. It was a voice all-to-well known to them.

"Caelus!" Sergey exclaimed.

"I´m surprised you recognized me. After all, we haven´t seen each other in years." The ochre-haired man sounded astonished.

"Well, you almost got me." Jacob said. "When I saw that ochre hair, I thought to myself: Who in the world is this guy? Luckily, Sergey seems to have a good memory."

"Aw, come on. Don´t tell me you forgot about our good, Roman friend from academy days." Sergey teased him.

"How could I possibly forget the man calling every uniform that isn´t one of ours an "infernal contraption"."

"Well, it´s the truth. If you wear anything else than ATAF uniforms you are just some fucking stercus."

"Gross." Sergey noted, being able to understand a bit of Latin.

"You´re one to talk." Caelus countered. "Remember how you were the one that used to play pranks on everyone in the academy?"

"They deserved it." Sergey muttered in defeat. "Anyway, how´s it been going since you and your squadron left the academy?"

"It´s been exhilarating. We are among the ten squadrons that have spent the most time in the air. Though our missions weren´t always successful we can proudly say of ourselves that we´ve lost only a single pilot since we got out of BFA."

"Who´s the poor guy?" Jacob asked.

"Squadron Commander Liang."

"Oh." Jacob froze for a moment and then said:" What happened?"

"I didn´t say he died." Caelus said suddenly.

"Well, you said that you lost him."

"If someone is promoted to the rank of Swarm Commander, it´s always considered a loss, especially for the squadron he was in before. However, I think that this time, we can be really proud of him."

"I don´t know what´s so prideworthy about standing on the ground and giving advice to your men in the air."

"Swarm Commander really isn´t the best job, that´s for sure. Liang knew that too, so he decided to work as hard as possible for a human being, in hopes that it would get him a promotion."

"Did it work?"

"You can bet on that. He was promoted to Praefectus Aerialis only a few months ago."

"I´ve never heard of that rank." Sergey said and raised an eyebrow.

"So did I. And it was actually just a placeholder rank, until about a week ago."

"What happened?" Jacob asked curious.

Caelus lifted his head and looked at a particular spot in the sky. After a moment, he chuckled.

"Do you know what he gets to do as Praefectus Aerialis?" He asked.

"No." Jacob and Sergey replied simultaneously.

"Basically, you´re like a pilot, just cooler and with more responsibility. That´s because he gets to fly one of these things." He said and pointed at an empty patch of sky.

"Seriously? There´s nothing there." Jacob said.

"Here, take this." Caelus said and pulled a pair of HDGs out of one of his vest pockets.

As Jacob put on the glasses, he was speechless for a moment. After some time he took off the glasses and gave them to Sergey who was equally stunned, when putting them on.

"That really is one hell of a plane." Sergey said as he handed the glasses back to Caelus.

"That she is indeed." Caelus sounded proud. "The final tests were ran only a week ago and she´s already out there and does what she can do best: Take out IS."

"That means you were the ones that took out the Cidadão Vigilante!" Jacob realized.

"We were. You know what´s funny? All those idiots think that we used some kind of highly energetic weapon but in reality all we did was turning on the lights and dropping one of the SP-Rods on the IS."

"I see. It looks like that the MRISF isn´t the only organization capable of fooling its enemies."

"Of course you aren´t. Now gimme some of that kvass." Caelus demanded and Sergey laughingly handed him the bottle. After taking a strong sip, Caelus almost spat it out again. He seemingly had trouble to swallow it, but eventually managed to do so.

"Oh man. That is unarguably the worst kvass I´ve ever had. I should probably stick with Roman wine." He complained.

"Oh, come on." Sergey said. "You can´t just back off because of one bad experience with foreign products. I mean, this wasn´t even good kvass."

"You´re probably right." Caelus said. "The military isn´t known for its high standards on stuff that isn´t used for fighting."

"But the stuff we use for fighting is world-class. No other nation or company can keep up with our engineering." Jacob said proudly.

"You got that right." Caelus said when he was distracted by his communicator beeping.

He listened to the person at the other end for some time and eventually sighed.

"Alright, I´m on my way." He said and put the communicator back into his pocket.

He looked at Jacob and Sergey and sighed another time.

"And here I hoped we could finally spend some time together." He knelt down and opened the hatch that lead into the turret´s command chamber.

"What happened?" Sergey asked concerned.

"We have to return to the Motherland immediately. Liang didn´t say why, but it seems to be important."

"I see. We wish you luck on your mission."

"I appreciate that." Caelus said as he disappeared into the command chamber.

Both Jacob and Sergey stared at the entrance to the command chamber and listened to the steps, slowly distancing themselves, when suddenly Sergey´s communicator rang.

"Yes?"

"This Commander Mazin Bin-Haled. Sergey, I need you in the briefing room right now."

"I´m on my way." Sergey said and put away his communicator.

"Hold my kvass, ´till I´m back, will ya?" He said and just pressed the bottle into Jacob´s hand before descending into the command chamber.

He arrived in the briefing room only a minute later, with Mazin standing at the holodesk and studying a map of the Lisbon District.

"Ah, there you are." He said as he noticed Sergey enter the room. "I´m going to get straight to the point. There´s been a massive change of plan and it´s not just the distribution of the troops, we´re talking about. You know that SSC Blackburn has met with the Spec Ops Council just now, right?"

"We were the ones that brought him there." Sergey wanted to say, but it didn´t seem like the time to form his thoughts into words, so he just nodded and Mazin continued.

"I don´t know exactly what happened, but it seems that he has completely revoked our orders. Instead of moving our force through half of Europe he has decided that we will set up defensive positions around Lisbon instead. That order has been relayed to everyone in the city already, but now we stand before the difficult part."

"Setting up the defensive lines." Sergey concluded from what he saw on the holodesk.

"Exactly." Mazin said and pressed on of the virtual buttons, projected above the holodesk.

As he did so, a straight line appeared, effectively dividing the northern third of the district from the southern two.

"So this is where we will set up the defensive line?" Sergey asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes, indeed. I don't think, I have to tell you that the areas along the line are filled with enemies."

"We would have figured it out even without your help. Still, it´s better to know what awaits one, isn´t it?"

"If we didn´t knew that, the Cidadão Vigilante would have torn our troops to shreds a long time ago. Whatever crazy weapon the Blue Stripe has designed for the TAAF is doing a good job."

"If you knew." Sergey thought and chuckled.

"What´s so funny?" Mazin asked a bit confused.

"Oh, just the thought of these arrogant brats, helplessly clinging to a weapon of mass destruction, thinking it will protect them when the judgement is released."

"I don´t know if I would laugh or cry at such a sight. It´s just sad to see what kind of tunnel vision some people possess. However, let´s not get off topic."

"Right." Sergey said and refocused on the plan.

"You'll be send to the city of Torres Vedras. We've already started an assault half an hour ago and the city is almost under control but the airborne troops we´ve sent are soon needed elsewhere. Therefore…"

Mazin was interrupted by a sudden distress signal, originating from the location of Torres Vedras.

"Mayday, Mayday This is… Airborne Regiment… have encountered… White Star … at Torres Vedras… reinforcements immediately.…."

"Dammit." Mazin muttered before raising his voice. "Sergey, gather your men outside the ship. We will send five Hummingbird squadrons to pick you up immediately."

Sergey nodded and rushed out of the briefing room. He found Jacob where he had left him. After a quick briefing, Jacob agreed to gather his men while Sergey went searching for the other Centurions.

He found the Centurions only a minute later, having a chat with Scott, Louis and Alexandros in the ship´s mess.

After he had informed them on the situation, they stood ready to gather their men and meet them outside.

After quick consideration, he opted to take Scott and Louis with him as well. It´d be better to have them both in sight, should something happen.

Outside, the 1000 men under his command were already waiting. He went for a short inspection run before giving the signal to the helicopter squadrons, that they were ready.

Due to their massive size and the limited space they were on, only one helicopter at a time could land and take in the troops before taking off again and making place for its successor. Each of them was large enough to take up to 40 soldiers for transport over the battlefield. Despite their mass, the helicopters were as maneuverable as hummingbirds (hence their name), thanks to the monumental efforts the engineers and researchers had put into the project.

The helicopters lifted into the air and began moving into the direction of Torres Vedras. From afar Sergey could already determine the scale of the fight that had erupted. The fields around the city were burning and many buildings had collapsed due to incoming artillery fire from both sides.

"Listen up, everyone." The swarm commander announced through the loudspeaker. "The White Star has set up their command central on a hill a few clicks north of here. HQ is still evaluating the situation but reports hint that there may be about ten-thousand White Stars moving to this area. Your orders are to move into the city and fortify any positions you can find, understood?"

The swarm commander didn´t wait for an answer, as the helicopter had already touched the ground by the time he was finished and the tailgate was already opening. Sergey hated this attitude, most commonly to be found among members of the Air Force (Caelus, of course, was an exception).

He stormed out of the helicopter, his men right behind him.

"Formation Murus!" He shouted to the other soldiers that were coming out of the other helicopters and immediately three out of ten soldiers began lining up with their bullet shields in hand and forming a defensive line. Behind them the other soldiers gathered and a few moments later they had formed a line with three soldiers behind one another.

It wasn´t a moment too early as suddenly, machine gun fire began raining down on the front lines. Luckily, the bullets were no match for the bullet shields and the soldiers were out of danger, for now.

"Formation Aculeus!" Sergey shouted and the second row of soldiers drew their rifles and mounted them on the shoulders of the men in the first row, thus creating an anti-infantry shield barrier.

"Ready! Aim! FIRE!"

Due to the shields, Sergey couldn´t see the White Stars who were firing at his men but after a few salvos, released by them, the shots silenced.

After waiting for a few more moments, Sergey gave the command to move forward.

While the mercenaries were moving towards the city, General Overseer Vadim Tsvetkov was standing on a hill just north of Torres Vedras and looking on his holographic wrist watch.

"Vadim?" A tender voice asked.

He turned around and his gaze fell on Spec Ops Commander Aileen Tsvetkov, formerly Aileen Anastasiadis, whom he had married three months ago.

He had to smile as he thought of the wedding.

She noticed this and asked:" What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, just our nice little wedding." He said and chuckled. "It´s been so long and yet it still feels like yesterday."

"I feel the exact same way." She said as she grabbed his arm and cuddled her head against his shoulder. "Do you know how happy you made me when you proposed to me?"

"Do you know how happy you made me when you said yes?" He smilingly asked back.

"I surely can say that I made you the happiest man alive."

"You sure did. Although Galen looked like he wanted to kill me back then. Nu, I shouldn't have done that in the middle of the meeting. But still, just to see your face, I would do it again." He said and laughed.

"Speaking of Galen, I've come here to tell you that he's on his way to the UNO-Headquarters at New York."

"How long will it take?"

"He said that it'll take nine days max and he´s sure that we can hold out long enough against the Red Star."

"That's good. It´s a bit strange, though. Since our marriage, he´s been avoiding me as good as possible."

"He seems to hold a grudge against married couples since it´s the same with Rio and Taro."

"Well, right now, there is no real chance that he would come into contact with them." Vadim said and laughed when his communicator rang.

"What is it?" He asked bluntly.

"Sir, long-range artillery is in position. What are your orders?"

"Hold your fire for the next ten minutes until our assault troops have retreated. Then turn the city to ashes."

"Aye, Sir."

Next, Vadim called the commanding officer of the troops inside the city.

"We´re in a bit of a situation here, make it quick."

"You and your men have to get out of here immediately. In a few minutes this whole city is going to be bombed to shit. Meet me on the hill northeast of the river."

"Yes, Sir."

Vadim put away his communicator and sighed.

"What´s wrong?" Aileen asked.

"I´m just thinking about Galen´s plans for the Republic. If I understood him right, he is just going reveal everything we have crafted so carefully over centuries."

"You know that it´s the only way."

"I wish I saw it the same way."

"Shh, say no more." Aileen said and a second later, their lips were locked in a kiss.

* * *

Clarissa sat in the command central of Harz Military Base.

She still had some paperwork to do, but it wasn´t anything important or confidential, so she had tasked Emilie with bringing the documents to her in the ops.

After fifteen minutes had passed, Clarissa´s patience began to dwindle and after waiting for another three minutes she decided to check on her.

When she looked at the door, she froze. There was a little gap between the door and the frame, which meant that Emilie still had to be inside.

Carefully, she opened the door and was greeted by darkness. She stepped into the room and closed the door while simultaneously trying to find the light switch.

When she found it and pressed it, the light didn´t turn on but in that moment it didn´t matter as she spotted something in the corner to her left.

At first sight it looked like someone had thrown a pile of laundry into the corner but when Clarissa´s eyes began to adapt to the darkness she was able to make out arms and legs that had been positioned so that the rest of the body would cover them from the immediate sight of someone entering the room. However, what really drew her attention was the blood pouring out of the body and at that moment a terrible suspicion began to rise in her mind.

She almost ran to the body and turned it to see the face of the person. It was Emilie.

Clarissa inspected the corpse closer when she noticed that the blood was coming from Emilie´s stomach.

She lifted Emilie´s shirt a bit, unveiling a knife wound, formed like a four-pointed star.

However, the puddle of blood, the corpse was lying in, indicated that there was another wound on her back.

When Clarissa turned her around, she was shocked by what she saw.

Someone had taken all the time to completely peel off the skin of the corpse´s back, revealing all the muscles and bones beneath.

However, at some spots the flesh was still attached to the body and where it was, it formed a small text, the content of which left Clarissa speechless.

"I survived, Clarissa. I survived you and I´ll survive everything you´re going to throw at me."

Deeply shocked, Clarissa began searching for a place to safely hide the body.


	11. Ideology

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A DEAD MEME  
** **You've been warned**

 **I don't own Infinte Stratos (why do I fell like I have to write this? This page isn't called FanFiction for nothing)**

* * *

Lars stared unbelievingly at his own communicator.

He had been trying to reach Frost for half an hour now and had been about to send a reconnaissance squad to clear him about Frost´s whereabouts and then contact to his friend was suddenly re-established. When he had asked him, where he had been Frost replied chuckling, that he had gone for a small walk in the forest. Lars had asked him to come back to the base, as there was something he wanted to talk about.

"Is he making Problems again?" Timur asked, out of a shadowy corner in the command central they were in. Lars faltered for a moment, because he thought that he had heard a trace of contempt in Timur´s voice.

"Is it just me or was that a trace of contempt?" He asked, hoping it wouldn´t be true. Timur never spoke bad about someone behind his or her back if he didn´t hate them.

"No, I´m just a bit weary from dealing with Frost´s difficult personality and its demands. Even after all those years…"

Timur sighed and Lars took the opportunity.

"He´s kind of a worrywart, that´s true."

"Kind of?" Timur asked unbelievingly. "He's ordered what is basically his certain death and you… you are just helping him like it's a normal order."

"That may be right." Lars replied in a calm manner. "But would you want to imagine what would happen if we denied him the Injection?"

"It can´t be that bad."

"No. It would be worse."

"How that?"

"Frost won't stop at something like this so easily. The way I know him, he'd probably just break into one of our labs and steal one of the Injections. We could just try to stop him from doing so, but we'd have to take into account that "friends" is a subjective term to him. He would fight us like we were enemies and to be evenly matched we would have to do the same. Nonetheless, we'd probably still fuck up."

"But what's the alternative? If the Council finds out that you provided him with the Injection, they will punish us both. I don´t want to lose Frost and my reputation."

"You are worrying too much. The Council has a very realistic conception of things. We will get the chance to explain ourselves, that's for sure."

"How could you explain that you knowingly provided your friend with the means to kill himself?"

"That is all a question of conscience. If you know that your friend wanted this, you are going to be alright."

"How would anyone want to kill himself, especially if the people that consider him a friend don't want that?"

"How comes that you don't want to kill yourself, albeit you've lost both parents and your little brother? Most people I know, would probably commit suicide if that happened to them."

"What kind of question is that supposed to be?" Timur asked, his eyes wide open.

"Maybe one you're supposed to answer." Lars said and raised an eyebrow.

Timur sighed. "You may have a point. Most people wouldn´t be able to overcome a loss this big. I did, one time already, and it´s taken such a toll on me, that I wouldn´t be able to do it another time. The only reason I´m here and not six feet deep, is that I have to survive. Cyril wanted it and my parents would have wanted it too. I have to do it for them."

"See? There you have it." Lars said with a triumphant smile in his face, at what Timur only threw a confused gaze at him.

"It´s actually really easy." Lars said. "Ask yourself, why you follow your family´s wishes, though they are dead and their words have no meaning for you anymore."

"Why?" Timur asked but was cut off by Lars.

"Don´t you see it?" He asked with a voice, a bit stronger than usual. "You follow their wishes because you love them, because you hope that it will bring you peace one day. It´s the same with Frost. He´s experienced terrible things, that is sure and he´s trying to overcome them. He too, has someone or something he wants to protect, no matter the cost."

"I´m not convinced." Timur said unimpressed.

"Goddammit, Timur. You´re so stubborn." Lars said and fell into the chair, standing behind him.

"Look who's talking." Timur griped and turned around.

"Listen." Lars said and Timur stopped, while standing in the doorframe. "I'm concerned about Frost too, but clearly there's something he sees that we don't. I'm not saying we should let him die, but maybe you should put at least a small amount of faith into whatever he's planned."

At that, Timur stopped and Lars thought to be able to see his head twitching lightly.

"I tried so hard." He said quietly. "But still… there is nothing that could help me to understand Frost or his actions in the least."

Lars had meanwhile gotten out of his chair and was approaching Timur slowly from behind.

"Are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"How could I be okay?" Timur replied as he began sobbing quietly.

When Lars was only a few feet away, he turned around and broke into tears while falling into his arms.

"I'm scared, Lars." He cried. "Scared of what´s to come. If Frost died… I´d kill myself. I don´t want everyone to lose both me and Frost."

"It's okay." Lars whispered into Timur´s ear. "He's not going to die."

"Are you sure?"

"Dead sure."

"Alright." Timur said as Lars slowly released him from the hug. "I'll trust you this time."

"Good choice." Frost said as he suddenly entered the room.

"Wh- Wh- What are you doing here?" Timur asked flabbergasted.

"Dumb question. I didn´t want to interrupt your little conversation, so I waited outside like a gentleman."

"I… I see." Timur said slowly as Frost turned to Lars.

"Lars, I think there's something you wanted to talk about with me." He said and Lars nodded, turned around and stepped up to the holodesk.

He activated a projection of the Harz forest, that had a blinking, red dot in its middle.

"What's that?" Frost asked.

"It´s called Elbingerode. A small town with about six-thousand residents and at the geographical chokepoint of our supply line to Rappbode. The problem is that the town has been evacuated and now there are German soldiers everywhere."

"One of our convoys already fell victim to them." Timur said as he stepped up to join the two. "Now the Germans have their hands on several tons of explosives and the specialists that were supposed to mine the side of the dam that's underwater."

"Well, shit." Frost muttered.

"You can say that loud." Lars commented.

"Luckily." Timur began to speak. "We have already mobilized the men of the 112th and they are ready to move out and take back the city. I just wanted to brief you on our battle plan."

"I'm listening." Frost replied flat-voiced.

"A pretty simple tactic." Lars began to explain. "We're going to split the 112th into two parts. One half is going to sneak through the woods and take position in the town's north-west. The other half is going to take our next-gen mortars with them and take position north-east of the town. There's a good portion of hills between the town and the part of the forest to the north-east. That makes the terrain ideal for attacks with mortars. We'll keep our men to the north-west hidden and as soon as the Germans have moved their men to intercept the north-east force, the north-west force will rush into the city and we'll encircle them. With that, we'll be able to wipe out their main force in the area and take the town, thus restoring our supply lines to the dam."

"Sounds good so far, but I don´t really see a spot where I could fit in."

"I thought about that too and I have solution." Lars said as the map zoomed in a bit.

"There's a quarry to the town´s south. This is the place where the German´s are probably holding the specialist that were supposed to mine the underwater side of the dam." He said as he pointed at the place the quarry was located at.

"Do you know it, or do you assume it?"

"I'm pretty sure. There are two other quarries to the south-east and east, so if you don´t find anything there, those might be worth a look. They are large pits after all. I can't think of a better place to hold prisoners."

"But it'd take a lot of men to secure such large pits, at least without any proper fortifications. And even if our men are in there, they are probably going to be moved as soon as the assault begins."

"That´s why you are going to move in before the assault even begins."

"How? Surely, the Germans are going to expect an infiltration of some kind. There´s no way that I could get in there unseen."

"That´s why you are going to talk to him." Lars said and an image of a German soldier shimmered into existence.

"Who´s that?" Frost asked after inspecting his face stature for a moment.

"His name is Darian Klein. He´s just finished basic training and is already being deployed with his squad. Like all males his life in the army is rather… unpleasant and the fact that he´s a squad leader can only be attributed to the fact that his parents have deep pockets. We've actually had him on the recruitment radar for quite some time now, but there hasn´t been any chance to properly contact him without anyone noticing." Lars explained.

"If I count one and one together, I assume that you want me to be the one to establish first contact and persuade him into joining us, right?"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up everything I was about to say."

"What about his squad mates? Any potential recruits?"

Timur shook his head and said:" Women and regime followers, all of them."

"That translates to: Kill all of them, right?" Frost stated the obvious.

"Is there anything more to say?" Lars asked smilingly.

"Well, there is one more thing." Frost said. "Where can I find him?"

"They should be at Castle Wernigerode right now."

"This'll be easy." Frost said as he turned around to leave the room.

"Frost." Lars called him out and he turned around.

"What?"

"I´ve got news concerning the delivery of Injections."

"I'm all ears."

"I've spoken with the head geneticists of the Blue Stripe and it looks like we can expect our delivery of Injections within the next twelve hours."

"That seems a bit… long. Is there any reason for this delay?"

"They are saying that it's because of what's happening in Lisbon right now. They don't want any of the Injections to be intercepted and at this point, I can only agree with them."

"Very well. Looks like I have to spent my time otherwise then."

With that Frost turned around again and left.

Lars looked at the empty doorframe for a moment before he turned back to Timur.

"So." He began. "When are we going to attack?"

"That's completely up to you. Besides, don't you think it's a bit too early for that? A good commander should make himself a picture of the situation before giving out rash commands."

Lars lightly tilted his head as he looked at Lars.

"You're right. I should get an impression of what the front's like. Make sure everything's alright while I'm gone." He said and left the room.

Timur sighed as he heard Lars' steps becoming more quiet by the moment.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Unteroffizier Darian Klein was sitting on one of the walls surrounding the house that he and his squad were stationed in.

Despite the terrible cold, he had opted to stay outside, as he couldn´t stand his squad mates whom he would surely meet when inside.

Soon, their CO would send them on yet another patrol into the town. Then he would have to deal with the disobedience of his teammates again.

He looked up from his book when he heard an explosion and managed to catch a glimpse of a column of smoke, making its way into the sky. The fact that he and his squad hadn´t fallen victim to the mortars yet amazed him. The Red Star really seemed to have a crush on those.

Just as he was about to turn his attention back to his book, his superior called him on his earpiece.

"Attention, Klein."

"What is it?" He asked, trying his best not to sound annoyed.

"We´ve intercepted a message, meant to reach the Red Star´s troops at the dam. Apparently, they are awaiting another consignment of explosives after our men have captured the previous one in Elbingerode. You and your squad are going to intercept that consignment. I´ll send you the coordinates once your underway."

"With all due respect, Sir, but aren´t there any other squads that are more… warmed up than we right now?"

"Indeed there are and I´m only sending you out there because it´s you. Now get your ass out there."

Darian sighed and stood up from his sitting position. At least the CO was being honest with him. That, however, could not be said about his teammates. He always caught them, speaking ill about him, but as soon as they noticed him, they would pretend that everything was fine. On top of that, they often intentionally ignored the commands he gave during battle, only to later pretend that they didn´t hear him.

He stored away the book in one of his vest pockets and called out to his teammates.

After ten minutes, they showed up.

"Where have you been?" He began yelling at them. "You should have arrived, like ten minutes ago."

"Sorry, Klein. We got caught up in something and it took longer than expected." Alexa said without trying to hide the contempt in her voice.

"That doesn´t matter anymore." Darian said and proceeded to brief them.

"We have received reports that the Red Star is awaiting another consignment of explosives being delivered to their men at the dam. We can´t let them get through, so we have to intercept them. If we can believe the contents of the intercepted message, then they are going to take the route through the panhandle that stretches to the town´s southeast. It´s a good place for an ambush since it consists of nothing more than a few abandoned houses in a narrow valley. We should probably hide in one of the trenches next to the road."

This time, they actually listened to him and nodded as they began making their way to the place where they would intercept the consignment.

Upon arrival, they jumped into the next trench they could find and began waiting for whatever vehicle the consignment was transported with.

"I wonder what´s so important about blowing up the dam." One of his teammates muttered.

"They´re terrorists. They're using things they could never build themselves to destroy things they could never build themselves." Another one replied.

"You mean they're jealous?" The first one asked curiously.

"Indeed. They envy our society and the possibilities we have nowadays. That's so typical of men."

Darian ignored the chatter of his team and concentrated on the street. After some time, he heard the roaring of vehicle´s motor approaching their position.

"Silence. Someone´s coming." He said to his squad, but they didn´t react.

"Shut up. All of you." He almost shouted and they were silenced immediately.

They waited until the vehicle was only a few meters away. Then, Darian jumped out of the trench and began firing at the truck in front of him.

The vehicle began slowing down and stopped only a few steps away from him.

Now that Darian wasn´t under the threat of being run over, he examined the vehicle.

Except for a few little impact traces, the windshield of the was mostly intact and he could clearly see a bunch crates in the back of the truck.

His teammates had meanwhile gotten out of the trench and were looking into the back part of the truck.

"Sheesh, these are some explosives." Alexa said as she opened one of the crates.

"Get in the truck. We can gaze at them later." Darian said and, surprisingly, they listened to him.

However, as he opened the door of the driver´s cabin, he froze.

"Hey, what´s taking so long?" Alexa asked.

"There´s no corpse in here." Darian said alarmed.

"You´re lying." Alexa protested when they suddenly heard something rustling in a nearby bush.

"There´s someone in there." Alexa said.

"Don´t stand there. Get him." Darian shouted, while he drew his gun and pointed it at the bush.

His teammates got out of the truck and drew their guns as well.

"Hey, you´re much more attentive tonight. Did something happen?" He scoffed at them.

"Very funny." Alexa deadpanned while throwing a contemptuous glare at him.

In that moment, Darian heard a thud next to him. As he turned to the source of the sound, he spotted a person clad in a white soldier´s uniform kneeling on the ground. Beneath him was one of Darian´s teammates, a knife stuck in her throat.

The person jumped into the air as Darian´s teammates opened fire while he himself put his lower arm in front of his eyes.

He heard someone gasp while the gunfire continued and suddenly, Alexa´s dead body hit him with all her weight. He fell to the ground under the weight of the corpse and could only watch how the attacker drew his pistol and fired a few shots right into the head of one of two soldiers that were left.

The other one tried to hit him, but he was just too fast and seemed to be able to foresee her every movement.

All of a sudden, the attacker´s blades disappeared and he grabbed the barrel of the rifle that was being pointed at him.

He pushed the rifle upwards and punched the soldier right in the face. She stumbled back until she bumped into the truck.

The attacker jumped forward, landed in front of her and rammed a blade into her throat.

Darian, who had managed to push the corpse off of him meanwhile, realized that the attacker wasn´t holding the blade in his hands. Instead, the blade seemed to be attached to his wrist in some way.

The attacker pulled the blade out of the girl´s throat and watched her sink to the ground.

In that moment, Darian drew his gun and pulled the trigger. Laying his arm on his eyes to protect them from the flashes, he pulled it again and again until all he heard was a click.

Taking his arm off his face, he looked around the dark environment only to realized that the attacker was gone.

Anxiously, he turned his head in all directions but the white uniform was nowhere to be seen.

Another thud made him turn around and as he did so, the attacker grabbed his wrist and began turning it until the pain began to set in.

Darian did his best to keep his mouth closed but the more his wrist got twisted the harder it got. Eventually, a squeal escaped and he had to drop the gun.

The attacker let go of his wrist and kicked him in the stomach, making him land on his butt. When he was about to get up, he felt a metal blade underneath his chin.

Darian sighed in defeat as the attacker slowly circled around him until he stood behind him, the blade lying on Darian´s shoulder.

He heard how a gun was cocked and set against the back of his head.

He closed his eyes in anticipation of a bang and the following darkness. His parents had always taught him that there was nothing after death and to be honest, he hoped that they were right.

He opened his eyes again, when he felt how the gun and blade were drawn back and someone began chuckling.

The chuckling eventually turned into a laughter and after another thud, Darian turned around to see what was going on.

The attacker was lying on the street, his arms stretched out and the laughing declining slowly.

Darian was about to draw his knife and go for a last desperate attack, when the laugh in the attacker´s throat died and he began speaking.

"Keep that knife sheathed. The last thing I´d want to do is hurting you."

Darian stopped where he stood and sarcastically said:" Judging by your actions it could have hardly been your goal to do so in the first place."

"Curb your sarcasm. Insulting stupid people is my job." The attacker said while standing up.

"Too bad you killed the only ones that would have been good for that kind of stuff." Darian said while throwing a contemptuous glare at the corpses of his former teammates.

"Did I?" The attacker asked, feigning his confusion. "Well, though it is a shame indeed, I´d be lying if I said that that was the only reason I moved my ass out here. If I wanted to insult someone, I could have stayed at HQ. There are enough stupid people around there."

"Then why did you make the effort?" Darian asked, feigning curiosity as he already knew the answer.

"You´re smart. I don´t think I have to tell you the reason. After all, had it been someone else, you wouldn´t be alive right now."

"I figured out that much."

"Glad to hear that. Now get in truck."

"Thanks, but I´m not keen on spending the rest of my life in captivity."

"We´re not driving back to HQ." The attacker said while making his way around the truck´s front.

"Lying is a very useful strategy sometimes. However, you´ll have to convince me with the truth rather than empty promises."

"Alright." The attacker said while taking the driver´s seat. "I´m going to proof that I´m not lying by driving that truck right into the forest and not turning around to where our HQ is located.

"Ambushes can be set up easily."

"Oy, listen. If I wanted you imprisoned, I would have brought you there a long time ago. I killed your teammates with my bare hands and I could easily use them to knock you out. So, if you don´t want trouble, you better get in now."

"What choice do I have?" He muttered in defeat as he took the co-driver seat.

The engines started and the truck began driving the up the road into the mighty Harz.

For a while, none of them said anything until he attacker asked:" Hey, do you know what the weather will be in about twenty-four hours?"

"Uh, I don´t know. Why´re you asking?"

"Because we have neither TV nor internet and therefore can't look up information whenever we please. So, I figured someone who has access to all these amenities should know."

Darian chuckled. "You're kidding, right? If they ever found me on a phone or somewhere similar, they'd kick me out."

The attacker looked at him before turning his eyes at the road again.

"Then how do you stay informed?" He asked.

"I spend most of my time eavesdropping. It's not very effective, but I get basic information that way. On top of that, it means I can spend time away from my teammates." Darian explained to him.

The attacker chuckled. "You´re either very stupid or very clever."

"I wouldn´t put it that way." Darian replied. "But tell me what makes you think so."

"Alright." The attacker said as he turned the truck by ninety degrees and drove right into the woodland.

After some time of driving between leafless trees, they arrived at a clearing near a cliff, which granted them an awesome view over the Harz.

"Come on." The attacker said as he got out of the truck.

Although he was not sure what would await him, Darian followed his request/command and got out of the truck himself.

He watched the attacker sit down in the snow and, after he looked at him for a while, concluded that he should do so too.

The attacker, however, remained mostly silent, looking at the night sky and eventually laid down completely in the thick snow.

"Ah, this is beautiful." He sighed.

"Do you have any memories that come to your mind when seeing this?" He asked Darian.

Darian looked into the sky and for the first time in years, he remembered his past. Not only the bad moments, but also the good ones, the little things he enjoyed.

"Now that I see it." He began. "My sister used to take me outside at night a lot. We would always climb into the trees and watch animals and stars beneath and above us. It was truly wonderful."

"Really?" The attacker asked curious. "Mine too. Though, we didn't go outside to see the nature. We did it to have some time, only for us. Our lives were filled only with duties and responsibilities. At least I felt that way until she took me outside for the first time."

"Well, I can relate to the part with the responsibilities." Darian said and laughed before he abruptly stopped and turned back to the attacker.

"You´re trying to make me join your organization, aren't you?" He stated the obvious.

"Took you long enough to realize." The attacker replied. "And now that the cat's out of the bag, we can get straight to the point."

"Sorry, but that´s not gonna happen." Darian said and jumped up, but before he could move, the attacker grabbed his leg and he fell into the snow again.

"At least hear me out." He said while pulling insanely strong on Darian´s leg until he knelt above him.

He turned Darian on his back, grabbed his upper arms and pushed them to the ground. Now it was just too awkward for Darian to have a clear thought.

"Listen." The attacker began to speak. "What do you think of, when you see me?"

"I… uh… d-don´t know." He stuttered, his heart racing, not knowing what would happen next.

"There´s no need to be so considerate of my feelings. Just tell me what I am to you."

"A terrorist… n-nothing more."

At that, the attacker chuckled.

"Well then. What if I told you that you are nothing more to me than a terrorist as well?"

"I-I really… don´t c-care."

"Aww, come on. You know that this isn´t right."

"A-as I said…" He was cut off.

"I´m not talking about whether you care or not. I mean, we seeing each other as nothing more than terrorists. That´s not true."

Finally, he stood up again, releasing Darian from his terrible position and offered him a hand.

Darian took it and found himself standing in the next moment.

"Now." The attacker asked him. "Will you join us?"

"Like hell I would. You´re just terrorists, that´s all I can say."

"Then give me a chance to prove the opposite to you."

"Hah. I´d like to see how you´ll manage that." He retorted sharply.

"Let´s start off with something simple: You and me."

At that, Darian raised an eyebrow but the attacker just continued talking.

"We´re not that different. You´re having trouble with your life right now. I had similar troubles long ago. You want to escape the people that are trying to press you into a shape of their liking and I can help with you with that."

"Well." Darian began slowly. "You are right in all points but you should know that joining a terrorist organization is not the right way, at least not to me."

"You can´t be certain if you don´t try it out. You know, when I first joined the Red Star, I was… annoyed. I was always taught to never be casual when interacting with anybody and of course I expected the same from those around me, but the social climate… Well, let´s just say it was something I wasn´t used to back then. That´s when I learned that the real purpose of the Red Star isn´t a political, religious or ideological one, but rather a social one."

"Explain." Darian demanded.

"You see, we select the outcasts of your society, those YOUR people refuse to give a place and we give them one, making their life mean something. That is the reason of our existence."

"How can I be sure that any of this is true?"

"You´ll just have to trust my word."

Darian sighed. It really was a difficult situation for him. He hated the life he had right now, but there had never been a chance to escape it before and now that only chance were empty promises made by what he deemed a terrorist.

Luckily, his decision was made a lot easier when a bunch of German soldiers popped up out of nowhere and the leader shouted at the attacker:" Drop any weapons you have or we will shoot."

The attacker turned around and chuckled.

"Took you long enough." He scoffed at them.

"Drop your weapon." Their leader shouted in return.

"I´ll never ever obey a command from you pigs again." The attacker whispered, too silent for any of the soldiers to understand it. However, Darian could understand him just fine.

Without another thought, Darian rushed forward, grabbed the pistol on the attacker´s belt with his right hand, put his left arm around his throat and pressed the pistol against the place where he assumed the temple to be.

"Stand down." He whispered in the attacker´s ear, but got only silent breaths as answer.

He watched how the soldiers put his hands on his back and handcuffed him, when their leader turned to him and began to speak.

"Are you Darian Klein?" She asked halfway polite.

"Yes, I am." He replied curtly, not expecting anything of higher importance as an answer."

"It is my duty to inform you that Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch has requested your presence at the military camp in Elbingerode. She thinks that you can help her with developing countermeasures against the Red Star."

At the mentioning of Clarissa´s name, Darian heard how pieces of cloth were rubbed against each other, as if someone was moving abruptly, but as he turned his eyes to the attacker, who was being held by the two other soldiers, he was as calm as always.

Slightly insecure, he turned back to the soldier and asked:" When is my presence required?"

"Lieutenant Harfouch stated that you should get on the move immediately."

"Alright, then let´s go." He said and the soldier led him into the direction of the main street, where they had parked their truck.

However, the ride wasn´t exactly to his liking.

The CO and her assistant sat in the cabin of the truck, while he said in the back, alone with the attacker, as the other soldier had been tasked with taking the truck the attacker had used to the nearest base.

The attacker looked like he was plotting something as he was always looking out of the open back of the truck, onto the road, into the forest and then into the sky.

After some time, he turned to Darian and spoke for the first time in minutes.

"You´re disappointing me."

"Well, I´m sorry for not taking candy from old men." Darian replied sharply.

"Such a shame. If you had taken the offer, your first mission would have started right away. It also would have proven me right."

Darian sighed. "Mind telling me what this mission would have been?"

"Easy. Rescuing the prisoners you´re holding at Elbingerode. These people are not even soldiers. They´re chemists."

"Well, you surely aren´t going to rescue anyone in the foreseeable future." Darian said and laughed.

"For how long do you think these cuffs can hold me? And do your really think that only because you would have made this mission easier, I'm not going to do it? Look, the outcome won´t change. There are just going to be more corpses." The attacker spoke and a moment later he added:" Including yours."

At that, Darian could only laugh. It was an absolutely hilarious threat, coming from a boy that, judging by his voice, wasn´t much older than him.

Seeming to have learned his lesson, the attacker remained silent, even upon their arrival in Elbingerode.

From afar the city looked abandoned, but it wasn´t long until Darian could spot the first gun nests. From what he had heard, the city had been transformed into a true fortress.

Finally, the truck halted at the church in the relative center of the town and both the German officer and her assistant exited the truck.

Darian jumped out of the back part and was immediately greeted by a dark-blue haired woman, clad in a completely black officer´s uniform with a bunny, holding a rifle on her chest.

"Attention." She said in a typical military voice and Darian saluted.

"Unteroffizier Darian Klein, reporting for duty. I was told to meet with Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch as soon as I get here."

"Well, you just found her." The woman said and Darian thought to have seen the trace of a smile in her face.

"You wanted to talk to me, Sir." He said without taking his hand down.

"Indeed I wanted to, but first we need to get the prisoner to a secure facility. If he´s left out here any longer he might get stupid ideas."

"Yes, Sir." Darian said, lowered his hand and turned around to the truck.

Much to his shock however, the back was empty.

He turned back to Clarissa, who´s face meanwhile had taken a shade of deep red and she looked like she was suppressing a tantrum.

However, she managed to calm down and muttered in a harsh voice:" That motherfucker has done it again."

She then raised her communicator to her mouth and ordered:" Secure all the exists. No one will be let in or out without ID."

Then she turned to Darian.

"Mind coming to the HQ's ready room with me? We need to discuss something." She said in a soft voice, at least in comparison to how she had sounded before.

"Yes, Ma´am." Darian said and began following her.

Upon arrival, she asked him to take a seat and he complied happily, as the seats in ready rooms seemed to be of higher standards than the bed he had to sleep in.

"So." Clarissa began. "What can you tell me about Frost?"

"Frost?" He asked confused.

"The name of that maniac we are searching for." She explained. Though, he´s gone by at least two other names we know of." She added a moment later.

"Oh, that guy. Well, he certainly knows how to talk to people."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He´s made me an offer to join the Red Star and to be honest, for one moment I really considered the idea of joining them."

"How so?" Clarissa asked, obviously getting curious.

"He knows how to exploit one´s weak points and how to hide that fact that he´s doing it. The first impression he made on me was that of a psychopath, but later on he managed to make me believe that he was just another ordinary human."

"Human, maybe. Ordinary, absolutely not. Our investigators have found over a hundred Germans murdered by the Red Star in the past. More than half of those people have been executed in gruesome ways and we could trace at least ten of those deaths back to him. Whatever he's been telling you about the Red Star, it's not true. They're terrorists and this is not going to change any time soon."

"I´m well aware of that." He replied. "That´s in fact the reason I decided to not join them in the first place. However, I don´t think that it´s only the Red Star that has made him what he is today. When we were talking, he mentioned that his life was filled with only duties and oppressing stuff and that he had a sister who used to show him the outside world. Maybe something happened to her and that´s the reason why he came into contact with the Red Star in the first place."

"I like that theory, but we´ve got absolutely no information about his familiar background. He´s German, I don´t doubt that. Maybe he's a socialist who's been in a coma for the last five decades and wants revenge on today´s world.

At that, Darian had to laugh.

"Where´d you get that idea from, Ma'am?"

"From a mang- I mean medicine magazine. I heard that some people fall into a vegetative state for quite some time, only to wake up from it decades later. They often have difficulties to adapt the world which is often quite different from what they were used to."

"Whatever." Darian said and stood up. "Unless, you have some usable information to feed me, I consider my job here done."

"I don't, so you may do as you please. You´re dismissed." Clarissa said and Darian saluted before exiting the ready room.

Outside the church, Darian took a deep breath and looked into the sky when he saw the same soldiers that were on the truck to Elbingerode, marching towards him.

"Show me your ID." The soldier demanded and Darian reached into his pocket to take out his ID.

As he groped around for his ID, he suddenly realized that it wasn´t there.

He turned back to the soldier, who had an expectant look on her face.

"So, no ID?" She asked

"I could have sworn that I've put it in here." He muttered but the soldier just replied:" We'll give you all the time you need as soon as you're behind bars."

"I didn't do anything." Darian protested.

"Then why is there a person, dressed like you running around at the other side of the city?" The soldier asked.

"Maybe because he´s an imposter?" Darian asked back.

"Unlikely. Contrary to you, he's able to show his ID when asked. The only logical explanation is that you´re the imposter."

"That´s nonsense. You can ask Lieutenant Harfouch."

"Oh, I´ll be sure to do that."

Speaking of the devil, the doors of the church swung open and Clarissa exited, her communicator pressed against her ear. However, as soon as she spotted Darian and the soldiers, she put it away and began making huge steps towards them.

"What the fuck is going on here?" She asked when she stopped in front of them.

"Sir, we were just arresting this traitor. We asked him to show his ID and he couldn´t provide it." The soldier replied.

"You fucking washouts." Clarissa began to rant. "You got the wrong one."

"How can you be so sure?" The soldier asked, slightly quieter than before.

"Because I just got a call about someone killing our fucking guards at the south quarry."

"That´s where we´re coming from." The soldier said and immediately regretted her choice as it seemed to infuriate Clarissa only more.

"Then you saw that fucking guy and just let him pass?"

"Well, I asked him for his ID and he showed it so…" She was interrupted by Clarissa.

"THAT DOESN NOT MEAN THAT HE´S THE IMPOSTER! THE ONE YOU'RE FALSELY ACCUSING HAS BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME AND IF HE WAS AN INTRUDER, I WOULD HAVE NOTICED IT!"

Clarissa facepalmed and after a moment took her hand of her face and continued talking in an appropriate volume.

"Howsoever, we can't change what happened. All we can do is trying to prevent that outbreak. NOW FUCKING MOVE! I´ll inform Captain Bodewig about all this."

"Sir, Yes, Sir." They all replied and Darian turned around and was about to go with the soldiers when Clarissa called out to him.

"Not you, Klein. You´re coming with me."

"Very well." Darian thought and turned around, following Clarissa back into the church.

There, Clarissa ordered him to remain in the entrance area until she came back. She eventually came back, another female soldier behind her.

They both stopped in front him and Clarissa spoke:" Darian, this is Mia. She´s a platoon leader in the Schwarzer Hase Special Unit and she will be accompanying you during the next set of missions."

The girl reached out with her hand and Darian shook it. He used this opportunity to take a closer look.

The girl had shoulder-long, violet hair that was tied into two braids falling down her shoulders. Her chest was of decent size and like Clarissa she wore an eyepatch over her left eye. However, other than Clarissa, the girl was wearing a black helmet with the SH-symbols, rather than a beret.

"Nice to meet you." He said and turned to Clarissa. "But say, why do I need an accomplice? I´m pretty good at taking care of myself."

"First off." Clarissa began. "You are her accomplice, not she yours. Second: Since your ID's gone missing and we have no means to just order another one right now, I have to put a soldier with special authorizations on your side to clear up eventual… misunderstandings." She finished.

"I see."

"Alright." Clarissa clapped her hands. "Now go out there and have some fun, sweetie." She said to the girl while patting her on her shoulder. She turned around and made her way out of the entrance area.

Darian and Mia spent a while, standing there and just looking at each other before Mia took the word.

"The prisoners shouldn´t have gotten far by now. If we hurry up, we can catch up to them before they reach the town´s outskirts."

"Yes, Sir." Darian replied and followed her out of the church.

The south quarry was located right on the outside of the town and by the time they reached the outskirts, they could already hear the gunfire from afar. It sounded pretty fierce, so Darian wasn´t sure what would await them.

"Hey, what are we going to do when we encounter the prisoners? I mean, it´s just the two of us." He asked all of a sudden.

The girl just looked at him before replying:" I wouldn't worry. Judging by the sounds, there are other soldiers nearby so we at least don´t have to face the prisoners alone."

Like from magic, the gunfire suddenly stopped.

"Huh, our men handled the situation faster than I expected." Darian said relieved.

However, the girl seemed to wield a different opinion. "Don´t relax just yet. We haven´t seen anything, so there remains the chance that the prisoners are the survivors."

"That seems pretty unlikely. I mean, they were up against a full-fledged combat force."

"That may be, but if that guy´s with them and the rumors are true the chance is higher than you might think."

"Rumors?"

"That guy you brought into short captivity? He´s no ordinary human. We have reports that prove that he´s been able to defeat an IS. A German one on top of that."

"Seriously?" Darian asked bewildered. "An IS? That guy? How´d he manage that?"

"How?" The girl began while reducing her speed a bit. "He´s secretive and sneaky. He uses dirty underhand means to fight and strikes in ways and at times that no one would expect. On top of that we have absolutely no personal information about him. That makes it really hard to determine what he could be after. Hell, we don´t even know what his face looks like. He´s keeping it hidden all the time beneath that helmet."

"Well, is there anything we know about him?"

"Nothing that would really help us." The girl replied flat-voiced.

"Okay, so, back to my question. What´re we going to do when we encounter those terrorists?"

"Don´t worry about them." The girl said while taking the rifle she had been shouldering the whole time into her hands. Darian eyed the gun and eventually realized that it was one of the next-generation rifles that could use both life ammunition and plasma magazines.

Suddenly, the girl grabbed his arm and pulled him to the left, right behind a pile of rubble that seemed to be a result of the little fighting the city had seen before.

"Ey, what´s the matter with you?" he asked as they both hit the ground.

"Silence." The girl hissed as she slowly raised her head to peek over their cover.

After a moment of peering over their surroundings, she pulled her head back down, and in almost the same moment a shot could be heard.

"Shit, they´ve found us." The girl said and although she did her best to hide it, Darian could hear a bit of nervousness in her voice.

"Well, what do we do now?" He asked, feigning cluelessness.

"What kind of question is this supposed to be?" The girl asked determined only to answer the question herself. "We´ll fight, of course."

"Yes, Ma´am." Darian replied smilingly while switching off the security lock on his gun.

"One more thing before we do this." The girl said while changing her magazine from live ammunition to plasma. "Call me Mia."

She then jumped up from behind the cover and fired at the position of the sniper.

The blue-glowing plasma splashed against the wall of a nearby building and immediately burned a massive hole in it.

Purely out of reflex, Darian stood up too and as soon as he spotted the sniper, who had been revealed by the melting-away of his wall cover, fired at him.

He hit him two times in the left shoulder and the man went down.

In the same moment, he heard the sound of Mia´s plasma gun being fired.

Darian turned around only to realize that another terrorist had snuck up on them from behind and Mia had released a deadly load of plasma right into his stomach that had burned a giant hole into the man´s guts.

The man eventually fell to the ground, small columns of smoke emerging from the hole in his stomach.

"Phew, that was close." Darian sighed.

"You can say that loud." Mia replied.

Suddenly, a shadow broke out of another pile of rubble, next to Mia and grabbed her arm, making her drop the plasma rifle.

They both rolled over the ground, eventually coming to an halt with Mia on top and shadow beneath her.

She immediately began bashing the attacker´s helmet with her fist and managed to break the glass that was covering his right eye.

However, the attacker managed to fend off her fist the next time she struck and Darian could observer how Mia´s expression changed from angry to shocked.

Finally, the attacker managed to sink a knife into her left flank. Mia gasped and he pushed her off to the right, while simultaneously rolling left, to where the plasma rifle had been dropped.

"No!" Darian wanted to shout, but in that moment the plasma had already melted away his arm.

Contrary, to his expectations, he didn´t feel any pain. His surroundings just began to spin around him until he couldn´t keep his balance anymore and collapsed.

He could only watch as the attacker approached him, as his body felt strangely limp and he couldn´t move.

The attacker knelt down in front of him and began to speak.

Darian could hardly understand him but judging by they way he talked, it had to be the boy he was looking for before.

"Didn´t I promise that you were going to be among the dead?" He asked in a threatening voice.

Darian tried to avoid eye contact, but the attacker forced him to, by grabbing his chin and forcing his head to point at him.

"Didn´t I?" He asked again, harsher this time.

"Mia, help me!" Darian managed to get out of his mouth, at which the attacker chuckled.

"She can´t and she won´t. See for yourself." He said and turned Darian´s head to face in Mia´s direction.

She was lying on the street, her gaze pointed at the sky, and the blood pouring out of her wound.

"Mia." Darian called out to her.

She didn´t react.

"See what I mean?" The attacker asked, turning Darian´s head back to face him while drawing a gun and pressing it against his forehead.

Now that his death was imminent, Darian forced himself to look the attacker.

One spot that caught his attention in particular was the broken visor, revealing nothing but darkness underneath.

Another detail that stood out was the fact that the attacker was now wearing a standard German camouflage suit instead of a white one.

Darian shivered as the attacker began to speak again.

"You could have brought glory to your ancestors, family and descendants, but no, you had to stay with the people that have been putting lies on your brain since you first met them. I won´t grant you the favor of any last words." He spoke.

Then he pulled the trigger.

When the echo of the shot had died away, Mia raised her head for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

She looked at the attacker and the corpse in front of him.

She flinched slightly when he turned around and she felt his cold, hard stare wandering over her body.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"N-no." She replied and although it sounded more like a whisper to her, it was enough to him, apparently.

"I see… Then let´s get you out of here and treat your wounds."

He stood up and walked the few steps that separated them.

However, when he bent down to pick her up, she pushed away his hands.

"What are you doing?" He asked emotionless.

"I don´t need your help, terrorist." She replied with a weak voice at which he just chuckled.

"Very well. Let me just take your communicator and see how you´ll handle yourself." He said while reaching into her vest pocket and taking out her communicator.

He threw it over the roof of a nearby house and sat next to her.

Mia turned around onto her belly and tried to push herself up, however, she groaningly collapsed when the pain in her left flank set in.

She tried to get up a few more times, but collapsed every time. On top of that, her vision began to darken due to blood loss from the wound the attacker had inflicted.

After her last attempt, she just stayed on the ground, breathing weakly and without enough strength to try another time.

Suddenly, she felt how someone laid his hands on her back and turned her on the back.

She looked at the full-face-covering combat helmet of the attacker with its broken visor.

"Have you reconsidered your choice?" He asked in a serious tone.

"Like… I´d… let… you… touch… me." She replied weakly.

"You´re stupid, you know that? I´m generously offering my help and instead you choose to bleed out. Isn´t that a bit idiotic?"

"Still… better… than… the… alternative…"

"Goddammit, you don´t even know the alternative." He sounded upset.

"Well… then… enlighten… me…"

"I´m gonna take you to a place where there will be no one, except us. No Germans, no Red Star. How´s that sound?"

She didn´t had the strength to resist, so she just nodded instead.

"Alright." He nodded back. "Then let´s get moving."

He bent down, put his hands under her shoulder blade and butt and lifted her up.

Next, he bent his knees a bit and Mia thought that he was going to run, however that was a complete misprediction.

Instead, he jumped. He jumped so high in fact that Mia passed out.

* * *

He stared at his wrist watch. When the pointer, responsible to show the seconds wandered over the small XII, he sighed and rose from his lying position into a kneeling one.

He took his communicator out of his vest pocket and established a connection to a certain person.

For a moment, there was silence, until the person on the other side answered.

"This is Timur. Can I help you?"

"Hey, Timur. Lars here. It´s been ten minutes now since we brought experts safely behind the lines. However, I haven´t gotten anything from Frost. Do you know where he might be?"

"Why are you asking me? I haven't seen him nor can I look into his mind. He's probably wandered off to somewhere in the town, having fun without us."

"That's exactly why I'm worried. The Germans are searching for their prisoners and I was thinking about giving the sign to attack, but I'm afraid the mortars might hit him. We´ve tried everything that's not too suspicious, but we can't find him."

"Well, if we can't find him, he probably isn't even in the town anymore. Maybe you should ask the specialists. After all, they were the last to have seen him."

"Alright, I´ll try. Bye."

"Bye."

Lars put his communicator back and began crouching away from the forest´s border. When there were enough trees to hide his presence, he returned to a normal stance and speed.

His destination now was the forward command center the Red Star had chosen as a command post for the planned assault on the town. It basically consisted of two buildings along a path through the woods to the town´s north-east.

They had done so, due to the fact that the buildings were basically overgrown ruins that hardly anybody knew of.

The only reason they knew of their existence in the first place, had been the knowledge of a few soldiers who had spent their childhood in the area and therefore knew it better than anybody else.

On his way there, Lars encountered many mortar crews that had been set up in the area to bomb the town as soon as he gave the command. However, he couldn't do this without knowing about Frost's whereabouts.

Finally, he reached the doorstep of the primary building, housing his subordinate officers and their strategical equipment.

He opened the door to the lobby of the building in which most of the people were located. A few tables had been set up to provide hospitality and a place to socialize for the troops

He looked around to find the specialists, eventually spotting them, sitting around a table with a lämp on it.

"Hey, if it ain't Milition Lars." One of them said as he noticed him approaching the table.

"May I take a seat?" Lars asked politely and in response was offered a chair.

He sat down and took a look around.

The lamp was throwing an orange shine on the faces of the specialists. They all looked quite young, except for the one on his left. He seemed to be a bit older than the rest of them.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" He asked Lars.

"Indeed, you can." He replied. "I´m looking for information about the whereabouts of General Frost. Where and when did you see him for the last time?"

"Well, last time we saw him was about twenty minutes ago. We had three men down and he was providing fire support while we were dragging them out of the danger zone. The last thing he told us was to make our way through the meadows to the town´s north-east and don´t wait up for him. It´s possible that his escape got blocked by the German patrols."

"That means he's still in the southern half of the town."

"Well, if he´s smart, he made a run for it southwards. He can possibly get around the town, but not through it."

"Would mean he's not in town anymore."

"Probably so."

Lars was about to say something, when he was distracted by his communicator.

"This is Lars. How can I help you?"

"Aisha here. We're in a bit of trouble. The Germans are sending out small search parties and one of them is coming directly towards our mortar positions. If you don't give the order to attack, we're fucked."

Lars waged the up- and downsides against each other for a moment, before sighing and saying:" Alright, you're free to engage."

He put away his communicator and stood up from the table.

The specialists saluted to say goodbye as he turned around and jogged out the door.

As he ran through the forest, he heard the first mortar shells hitting the ground and couldn't help but wonder if this had been the right choice.


	12. Non Fide Mihi!

Mia woke up and looked around.

She was lying in a bed in a house she didn´t know. Pale moonlight was flooding the room through a window and from afar, she could hear explosions.

Lifting her head a bit, she could see that a bandage had been wrapped around the spot where she had been struck with a knife.

"How are you feeling?"

Mia flinched at the unknown voice and the pain, caused by her knife wound, immediately set in.

She gasped and began writhing in pain, when someone pushed down her legs and arms onto the bed and held them there until she calmed down.

Looking up, she identified the source of the voice and the hands as the boy who had attacked her and killed Darian.

When she looked at the spot of his helmet that was covering his eyes, she faltered.

She had managed to break the visor over his right eye, but there was nothing to see except black.

"Who are you?" She asked him, though she could imagine not getting an answer.

And in fact he replied:" Who I am is of no importance…" He trailed off for a moment before continuing.

"However, I am a bit sorry about that, y'know, that stuff with the knife."

"I can't imagine why you would be." She replied, making no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice.

"I save you and this is the thanks I get?"

He sounded serious, but after a moment he chuckled.

"Well, earning people's trust isn't one of my greatest strengths. Still, I hope you can forgive me for that."

"You´re strange, you know that?"

"If I had a bullet for every time I heard that… Well, it certainly would be an awful lot of them." He began to laugh.

Suddenly, the laugh died and as he began to speak with a normal, serious voice.

"Let´s not get off topic. I´ve brought you here to treat your wounds and that´s what I´m gonna do."

He moved his hands to take off her vest, but she pushed them away.

"Hands off me, you dirty pervert."

He sighed and said:" Listen, only because you feel stronger now, doesn´t mean you´re strong enough to defy me. If I have to hurt you to ensure your survival, I'll do it."

With that, he grabbed her wrist.

While he held her wrist with one hand, he opened the backpack that was lying beside the bed with his other hand and took out a pair of handcuffs.

"Listen." He began. "I can put those around your hands so you´ll keep still, but that would make it harder to treat you properly. Do I have to restrain you or will you let me treat you?"

"Why? I know how to use med-kits, so how about you let me treat my wounds by myself?"

"Ah, ah, ah. I´m the one who has the med-kits, so I´m the one who gives the treatment."

"Pervert." She muttered and pouted.

"If I had a bullet for every time someone said that to me…" He said as he laughingly reached into the backpack and pulled out a bunch of dressings.

He put them on the nightstand next to the bed and then said:" Raise your arms a bit, so that I can take off your vest."

"I can do that myself." She protested, but he just laid one hand on her shoulder and pushed her against the bed.

Despite the fact that he was using only one hand, she could barely resist. Maybe, it was because the wound was weakening her, but still so, he seemed unnaturally strong.

After some more time of one-sided-wrestling, she gave up and raised her arms, so he could pull the vest off her chest.

"You feeling alright?" He asked as he put the vest on a clothes rack next to the bed. "Your wound looks… bad."

He reached for the backpack another time. He pulled out several pieces of cloth and a bottle of disinfectant. He put them both on the bedside table.

Next, he took his knife into his hand to remove the blood-soaked bandage from the wound.

He sheathed the knife and took both disinfectant and cloth from the bedside table.

He sprayed the disinfectant on the wound and began blotting the cloth against the skin surrounding the wound. She felt burning pain, caused by the disinfectant, but she managed to keep her mouth shut and not groan in pain.

Eventually, he was done cleaning the area around the wound from all filth that had adhered to the blood in and around the wound.

He gazed at the wound for a moment, before shaking his head lightly and turning to the backpack.

"Bad news." He said while rummaging in the backpack. "The wound´s bigger than I expected. If you want to get out of that bed within the next few hours, I´ll have to stitch it up."

In his hand appeared a pack of needles, alongside a roll of medical thread.

"Great." She muttered.

"Well, I can't help it." He replied abashed. "That right arm of mine is pretty strong."

"Uncontrolled and arrogant. That´s a nice doctor we've got here."

"Shut up." He said laughingly while taking one of his gloves off. "It's going to be painful, so you might want to have something to bite on, just in case. Now say ahh."

Reluctantly, she opened her mouth and bit on the glove.

From the corner of her eye, she could watch him unpack the threads alongside a small pair of pincers. He cleaned them with disinfectant, before grabbing the thread with the pincers.

He laid his bare hand on the skin near the wound while getting ready to perform the first stitch.

"Ready?" He asked and she nodded in return.

Then, the needle pierced through her flesh and despite the pain being not as bad as she had been imagining, she had to bite on the glove in order not to make any sound.

After that, he took the pincers and gently pulled at the thread until it pierced into her flesh again on the other side of the wound. Then he knotted together the loose ends of the thread.

He repeated the procedure a total of nine times.

During all that time, Mia had concentrated more on keeping her jaws together than on the procedure and so she was a bit surprised when she heard him sighing in relief.

"Ar yu don yed?" She asked, the glove still between her teeth.

He chuckled slightly at that before replying:" I´d like to say yes, but there´s far too few of those stitches. If we want this to last, you´ll have to be a bit more patient."

"Whadever. I´m used do de bain anyway by nau." She replied disappointed.

"Glad to hear that." He replied while preparing for another stitch.

Mia closed her eyes and let her body twitch lightly whenever she felt the needle penetrating her flesh. She also gave up counting the stitches and let her attention slide to other things.

After what felt like an eternity, the stitches stopped and she felt a hand pulling on the glove in her mouth.

She moved her jaws apart and he pulled away the glove.

"Here." He said. "It´s all done."

She opened her eyes and raised her head to take a closer look on his doing.

The wound had been stitched up almost completely and just by knowing this, Mia felt a lot better.

She turned to him, just in time to see him falling backwards and landing on the chair.

"Is everything alright?" Mia asked him.

He looked at her and replied:" Yeah, I´m fine. I´m not used to make such operations, that´s all."

He then silenced and looked out the window, giving Mia time to move her head around. Only then, she realized that she was lying in a double bed.

At that, her cheeks immediately went from a normal pink to a shade of dark red. Shaking her head, she tried to get the thoughts of what he might have done out of her mind.

She didn´t know if he was ignoring her or if he really wasn´t noticing, but the latter possibility seemed unlikely, as she heard overheard a conversation between Laura and Clarissa, where the former had stated that he was an observant person and that it was unlikely that he would overlook or overhear something that was happening in an range of a hundred meters from him.

After some time, he got up and grabbed the leftover bandages, stuffing them into his backpack.

He then strapped it around his back and stepped towards the window.

"Where are you going?" Mia asked him when he opened the window and stepped on the sill.

He turned his head around and said:" Since my work here is done, I don´t see any reason for staying here any longer. If you´re worried about the debt you may be in, don´t worry. You don´t owe me anything."

With that, he leaped out of the window, but Mia jumped out of the bed, desperate to go after him.

However, her flank didn´t really support that intention and she fell to her knees, covering the wound with her hands.

Admitting her defeat, she turned around and slowly walked back to the bed to pick her up her stuff.

She zipped up her jacket and put her vest back on. Then she proceeded to look for the other things.

Her helmet was lying on the other half of the bed and she found her plasma rifle, leaning against the wall near the door that led out of the room.

Her helmet on her head and her rifle in one hand, she carefully pushed down the handle of the door and stepped in the corridor behind.

The corridor had another large window at one end and a staircase that led to the ground floor at the other.

The large window let in a lot of moonlight, illuminating the path in front of her, her shadow being the only thing to darken it.

Carefully, she stepped towards the staircase, for the boy could have set up all kinds of traps.

Luckily, nothing happened, not when she stepped through the corridor, not when set foot on the stairs and not when she arrived at the ground floor.

The ground floor wasn´t that different from the floor above. The only difference was that, instead of a large window, the other corridor only had a door with two narrow glass panes and therefore the room was almost darkened out.

The dark didn´t scare her, so she began making her way towards the door, one step at a time.

While approaching the door, she eyed up the furniture in the corridor. It consisted mostly of shelfs with various things on them including flowers, however most of them had already died.

Therefore, she was surprised when she spotted a bunch of flowers in a vase, blooming in a deep red, one that she could make out even in the darkness.

Curious, she turned her eyes to the flowers. Each of them had five leaves, and she could make out the contours of something else on them.

She reached into one of her vest pockets and pulled out a flashlight. When she activated it, she could see that there actually wasn't something on the leaves, they only had a darker shade of red in some places.

She shivered at this, as it made the flower look like blood was running down its leaves.

She was about to turn away, when she noticed that the shadow caused by the vase didn't fit its shape.

Looking behind the vase, she spotted a little frame with a picture in it.

She took it into her hand and looked at the photograph.

On the picture, she could see a boy and a girl kneeling in front of a tree. The boy stood on the right side of the picture and the girl on the left. Both of them had their arms, that were on the side of their bodies that pointed to each other, stretched out and the hands meeting in the middle where their fingers formed a heart. Both their other arms meanwhile where hidden behind their backs.

While the girl had a rather satisfied smile on her face, the boy had his eyes squinted and looked much more happy about whatever situation the picture was taken in.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Mia's head and she had to support herself on the shelf in order not to fall.

Meanwhile, Frost sat on the house, lying in the snow that was covering the roof, when he heard the door being pushed open and someone running through the deep snow.

After a while the steps stopped and thanks to his ear implant, he could hear Mia, starting a conversation with someone.

"It's about that guy we call Frost. I know who he is."

The person on the other end said something, when Mia turned around and spotted Frost, still sitting there and just watching her.

When the person asked again Mia replied:" Sorry, I can't talk right now. I have to get out of here."

She put away her communicator and began running into the direction of the mortar fire and the yellow sky.

Frost just looked at her for a moment, before jumping off the roof and landing in front of the house door. He went inside to see if Mia had found or taken anything that might have gotten her a clue on who he was.

When he stepped outside again, he was furious.

"I saved you and that's the thanks I get? Just wait, bitch. You can't outrun me."

As he began jumping running through the forest, another thought made its way through his head.

"You can't outrun me, but wouldn't it be funnier if you thought you could? Guess I'll have to answer that question myself."

He chuckled viciously.

* * *

"We're ready to move out at your command."

"Very good." Laura said as she put on her helmet and climbed into the back of the truck.

The engine started and they began moving over the base´s airfield towards the gate where the truck had to stop before they could continue, alongside the rest of the convoy.

After a few moments of driving through the woods. Laura turned to Ronya, one of her fellow soldiers, who was sitting at a control panel next to her.

"Start a surveillance drone." Laura ordered.

"Yes, Sir." She replied and Laura could feel the truck shaking lightly as the thrusters of the surveillance drone on the truck´s roof were activated and it took off.

A few minutes passed before Ronya spoke up again:" Drone's in position. Ready for sitrep."

"Shoot." Laura replied.

"The Red Star's main force seems to be located in the woods to the town's north-east. There is much mortar fire coming from there and I can make out several fortified positions in the fields in front of the woods. There are supply lines, running from there to a number of buildings a little further to the north-east…"

Ronya had broken off in the middle of her sentence. When Laura asked her what was wrong, she pointed at the screen that was showing nothing more than white noise at this point.

"Are you sure that it isn't an connection error?"

"That's pretty unlikely. We've got the newest technology here. It can even resist disruption frequencies to some point." Ronya replied and sighed in frustration.

"Anyway, the drone's crashed one way or another. There's no use, debating about that."

"Very well." Laura said and leaned back in her seat.

After several more minutes they finally arrived at the war-torn town of Elbingerode. The convoy halted in front of the church and Laura jumped out of the truck's back.

In that moment, the church's tower went up in flames, illuminating the streets around it. What followed was an explosion that blew away the tower's covers, scattering them all around.

Laura held up her arm against her face to shield it from the incoming shrapnel. When she took it down again, she could see that the explosion had blown away most of the church's roof.

"Where's Clarissa?" Laura shouted as she stepped into the interior of the church and said person was nowhere to be seen.

"She was going to meet up with another member of Schwarzer Hase, Sir." One of the soldiers said.

"Is Mia there?"

"No, Sir."

Laura sighed and turned back to Ronya who meanwhile had entered the church too.

"Get the Lighthouse. We need to find Clarissa and Mia."

Ronya just nodded and turned around to return with a silver suitcase in her hand.

"We need to get onto that tower, or else it won't work." She said, but the soldier gave her an concerned look.

"Can't stop you from doing so, but I've gotta warn you. The last guy that was up there was shot in his nostril from a few kilometers away."

"I think we can handle a few bullets." Laura said while deploying her IS's right arm cover alongside the AIC-Barrier.

"Very well. Ladder's over there." The soldier said and pointed into the back part of the church.

"Alright. Let's go." Laura said to Ronya and they began making their way to the top of the tower.

On the top, Laura was quick to kneel down and deploy her AIC-Barrier. Subsequently, she gave Ronya the signal that it was safe to come up.

Ronya threw the suitcase on the floor and then pulled herself into the small chamber while staying low herself since their position was completely exposed to enemy fire.

She opened the suitcase and pressed a number of buttons until a small hole opened and a metal pole with a pellet on its end extended.

The device, called Lighthouse, was designed to send out small amounts of electromagnetic waves on a certain frequency, meant to trigger a response from biological nerve systems which would allow it to detect any nearby living beings.

Such devices were only used as last resort in dire situations, since the waves would do damage to the brains and nerves of biological beings. Nonetheless, the Oberkommando had requested a special version for Schwarzer Hase that could additionally trigger reactions of the nanites in their HSPs to make it easier to track the single members of the special unit. Laura had asked herself why they thought this was necessary and Clarissa had told her that it would help them to regroup in very chaotic battle situations. To be honest, Laura hadn't quite believed it, but now she was grateful that they had such a device to use.

"Look at that." Ronya said as she pointed at the small screen inside the suitcase.

There were a number of dots right outside the church. These were the other members of Schwarzer Hase, Laura had brought with her. Then there were two dots in the north-eastern part of the city.

"This is where Clarissa and Mia have to be." Ronya said. "If you hurry up, you might catch them in time."

"On my way." Laura said as she jumped off the roof and her IS materialized around her.

Only seconds later she was above the place where Clarissa and Mia were supposed to be and as a matter of fact, she could spot two people lying on the street.

Laura dropped down, but pulled up again when she was only centimeters away from the ground.

She hovered over to the two persons and, when she found them to be Clarissa and Mia, stowed away her IS, gently hitting the ground.

Immediately, she ran over to them.

Mia was lying on her back. This position made clearly visible the three holes on her chest. Judging by the blood puddle underneath her back, the bullets had completely passed through her body.

Clarissa was right next to her. She was supporting herself on her elbow, while blood was pouring out of her right thigh. Taking a second look, Laura realized that she had been struck by a blade.

"Thank god, you're here." Clarissa said.

"Clarissa!" Laura exclaimed while running over to her.

"What happened?" She asked while kneeling down next to her.

"It was that psychopath. He attacked me and Mia out of nowhere. Quick, if you hurry up, you might catch him." Clarissa said hastily as she pointed at a broken window on the other side of the street.

"What about…" Laura wanted to ask, but Clarissa cut her off:" No time for that. You have to get him. Now!"

Laura nodded, stood back up, turned around and began to run across the street. When she reached the window, she jumped right through it, landing smoothly on the floor.

Inside, she moved her head around and spotted a halfway-open door in the room's right corner.

She charged forward, hitting the door hard enough to break its hinges.

She entered into the corridor behind, quick enough to spot a pair of legs, disappearing into a hole in the ceiling.

She ran until she stood beneath the hole and jumped, grabbing onto the edge of the hole.

She pulled herself up, again in time to see a person disappearing around a corner. She heard steps, sounding like someone was running up a staircase and began chasing after them.

She found a staircase and was about to set foot on it, when she heard a metallic sound from right in front of her.

She spotted a little, shiny ball on the stairs in front of her. That was enough to trigger her soldier reflexes and jump aside.

Not a second to early, as an explosion tore the stairs to shreds as soon as she hit the ground.

Gritting her teeth, she stood up again when the outlines of a head became visible at the hole between the floor she was on and the floor above.

Laura glared at him and as soon as she did so, the head retracted into the upper floor and she then heard steps, distancing themselves very fast.

Not to be outdone, she stepped beneath the hole and looked upwards, realizing that the rest of the stairwell was still standing.

Putting on an evil smile in her mind, she deployed her railgun, pointed it upwards and fired without losing another thought.

As expected, the projectile blew away all the floors above her, revealing the night sky above her.

Laura swapped her railgun with one of her suit thrusters and grabbed onto it. She then activated it, resulting in her being catapulted into the air.

When she had missed the final floor by several meters in height, she stowed away the thruster performed a 360-degree front flip, landing safely on the house's roof with her arms stretched out sideways.

She looked around and spotted the Lieutenant, lying on the floor. It seemed as if her railgun had not only damaged the house but also struck him.

"There you are."

She walked over to him, grabbed him at the collar and lifted him up.

"Seriously?" He asked as she looked right at where she believed his eyes to be. "My leg is hurting like hell and you're doing this to me? Isn't it already enough that your railgun almost killed me?"

"Shut it!" She replied angrily. "Don't distract from the real matter. You killed Mia and I'll make you pay for that."

"Well, I can hardly stop you."

Laura let go with one of her hands and deployed her beam saber.

Suddenly, the Lieutenant began to laugh.

"I love that moment when you run head-first into the trap without even realizing it."

To this moment, his legs had just been dragging over the floor, but now he was putting pressure on them and pushed himself forward, against Laura.

She couldn't withstand the pressure and fell backwards, whereby she lost the grip of his collar. She felt the impact on the back of her head and wanted to swing her beam saber, but suddenly, she felt a crushing weight on both her upper arms.

The Lieutenant had jumped onto her arms and was now pointing a gun at her head.

"Put away your saber and no one will have to get hurt." He demanded.

Laura continued to struggle for a moment, but eventually, she gave up and stowed away her beam saber.

The Lieutenant just chuckled and put away his gun.

He bent down and reached out with his hand, touching Laura's cheek. Gritting her teeth, she tried to evade his touch, to no avail.

"You are so beautiful; did I ever tell you that?" He suddenly asked. "It's only a shame what's become of you. You have no clue of the world out there. You think honor and strength will get you through, but are you are mistaken."

Laura shivered at the sensation of the cold cloth, running along her cheek and nearing her ear. Nonetheless, she did her best to respond in a voice as harsh as possible.

"Bullshit. You know nothing about being a soldier. If you did, you'd face me in battle instead of attacking out of the shadows."

He slightly tilted his head to the right.

"You're funny, you know that? Talking like that to someone who's been deployed in more military conflicts than you'll ever see. Say, do you remember the Third Crimean War?"

"What?"

"Or Second Donbass Crisis. Call it what you want."

She knew what he was talking about. In 2039, the People's Republic of Donetsk surprisingly declared war against its western neighbor, Ukraine. Although the Ukrainian Military had been completely surprised by that, they somehow managed to get the situation under control in just a few weeks without any foreign help. Now that he was talking about such an event, she could imagine where this conversation was heading.

Still, she asked: "What to it?"

"I've been there." He replied. "An believe it or not, I took thirty-two bullets to the chest."

"You're lying." She said determined. "There's no one who could survive such an amount of bullets."

"How many actual conflicts have you been deployed in so far?" He asked suddenly.

She didn't want to answer him. If she did, she would give him another way to mock. However, it seemed he already knew the answer.

"Zero, right?" He asked. "Then that's the percentage of truth in what you just said."

He looked at her for a moment and chuckled. In that moment, Laura was sure that he had put on a cheeky smile underneath his face covers.

He spoke up again:" The fact is: You've never been deployed in a military conflict. You don't know the nature of warfare and neither do those who falsely call themselves soldiers. They are self-motivated, thinking that they can do whatever they want. But they are wrong. Being a soldier means to give up your life for your nation. Anyone who doesn't know that has no right to call himself a soldier."

His hand wandered downwards until it had enclosed her throat. He began squeezing and Laura tried to move her hands to get his off her throat, but he kept her arms in place with his heavy boots.

At the same time, he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the plasma saber he had used to fight her at the Academy.

"All I have to do is push this button, then I can end this. No one will…"

Before he could finish his sentence, a bullet hit his helmet. It didn't break through, but had enough power to force him to take a few steps backwards in order not to lose his balance.

Laura rolled away from him and jumped onto her legs.

She turned her head to the left and spotted Clarissa, who was pulling herself onto the roof.

As she stood on her two legs, Laura could see that Clarissa had somehow managed to bandage herself.

Still, the bandage was soaked in blood and it didn't need an eagle's eye to see that Clarissa was having trouble to keep herself standing.

The Lieutenant leaped forward and Laura held up her beam sabers to shield herself from the impending strike, but after a second, all she heard was a metal-through-flesh sound.

She looked up to see the Lieutenant and Clarissa, standing only inches away from each other.

Her gaze then wandered downward and there she saw it.

Clarissa had somehow managed to hide the fact that she had been holding a knife in her hand the whole time. She had managed to sink it into his right side.

Clarissa pulled out the knife and immediately, blood began pouring out of the wound. The Lieutenant stumbled back a few steps and then, in a calm voice, said:" Wow, that feels strange."

"Surprised?" Clarissa scoffed. "It seems you're not the only one that's capable of being sneaky."

"I should have expected that from vixen like you." He said while slowly stepping backwards, pressing his hand on his wound. Still, the blood simply poured out from between his hand.

Suddenly, he began to laugh.

"Honestly, you two are funny. Thinking you stand a chance against the Red Star, when in reality all you've seen is just a small portion of this unbreakable war machine."

"Are you going to keep bragging about your oh-so-strong organization or are you going to fight us?" Clarissa asked with contempt in her voice. "And where the hell did you get that uniform from?"

"Oh, that?" He asked and chuckled. "I stole it, what else?"

"From whom?" Laura demanded knowing.

"Calm down." The Lieutenant replied. "The dead don't need clothing, so what's all the ruckus about?"

Both Laura and Clarissa glared at him, at which he chuckled again.

"I'd like to keep chatting with you. It's entertaining." He said while slowly stepping backwards. "However, people I deem more important than you two are getting worried, so I have to go. Until next time."

With that, he leaped backwards and disappeared into the ravine between the houses.

"What an asshole." Clarissa noted while looking at the bloody trail he had left.

"That he is indeed. Nonetheless, there are more important things right now." Laura said and pointed at Clarissa's thigh.

Clarissa noticed this and let out a sheepish chuckle.

"Yeah, you might be right. Still, I think changing the bandage would do it for now."

"We'll see what the doctor has to say about that." Laura said as she turned around and went to search for another exit from the roof.

When they arrived back at the church building, Clarissa immediately went to the doctor to check on her leg, while Laura led a search party to recover Mia's corpse.

They found it in the exact same place where it had been left and weren't attacked by anyone on their way back.

At the same time they arrived back at the church, another team arrived, carrying the corpse of the soldier that had been accompanying Mia until shortly, at least according to Clarissa.

Now both corpses were lying on surgery tables in a white-walled, halfway clean room. All clothes except those covering their intimate areas had been removed and every injury had been photographed or documented.

Laura was sitting before a table on the other side of a glass panel, studying photographs and reports about the corpses condition, when she noticed several strange things.

Darian Klein, that was his name, according to Clarissa, had a bullet hole in place of his right eye. In addition, the corpse was missing almost all of its right arm, except for a small stump. The rest had been burned completely away.

Did Frost use Mia's plasma rifle to kill Darian? It seemed like the only possible explanation, since she was sure that Mia wouldn't have turned on her comrades. But then there was that bullet hole.

Grumbling, Laura turned her attention to Mia's corpse where she had noticed several strange things.

First of all, Mia's eyepatch wasn't among the things to be found when they recovered her corpse.

Second, in addition to the three bullet wounds in her chest, she had another stab wound in her left flank. However, this one had been stitched up already.

Since there was no way Mia could have done it on her own, there had to be someone different who had to have done it.

Laura turned around to the sound of the door opening. She spotted Clarissa entering the room with two cups of coffee in her hand.

"Anything interesting in the works?" She asked, putting down one of the cups on the table.

"Well, there are things that are … unusual to say the least. Do you know if the soldier who accompanied her carried medical equipment?" Laura replied while putting her fingers around the cup's handle.

"You mean Klein? He didn't seem like a medic, at least to me. Why are you asking?"

"That stab wound on her flank is already stitched up. A stab wound makes it pretty likely, that she encountered Frost some time back. The reports indicate that Klein was killed around the same time that Mia got her stab wound, so the question is: Who the hell stitched up her wound? I mean, it could be, but I don't think that it was Frost. After all, if he wanted to save her, he wouldn't have killed her, right?"

"It would be unlikely, unless… he was trying to manipulate her. Naturally, people are more approachable if they are helped."

"I don't think Mia would forget who exactly she was talking to in such a case."

"She surely wouldn't have, but since we don't know what exactly happened, we can't tell for sure. Hell, we don't even know if that's the right path we're following."

"Dammit." Laura said as she slammed her hand on the table. " I want answers and I want them NOW!"

"As much as I'd like to agree with you, Captain, but the only person that might have some just slipped through our fingers."

Laura was about to reply something, when Ronya stormed into the room.

"Captain." She gasped. "We're being attacked from the north. The Red Star has already pushed danger-close to our position."

"Shit." Clarissa quickly put down her cup, spilling small drops of coffee on the table.

Clarissa was already through the doorframe, when Laura stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Clarissa sounded confused. "We need to help our men, right now."

"That may be right, but you can't just run off. You'll have to wait until we're organized."

"But if the Red Star's already danger-close, then there's no time to waste."

Clarissa wanted to turn around again, but Laura stood up and grabbed her by the collar.

"We don't have time to argue if it's good to mimic manga heroes. For now, you're going to listen to what I say." Laura said while walking past her.

"Yes, Captain." Clarissa pouted as she followed her out of the building.

It didn't take long to gather the soldiers and only minutes later, they found themselves, moving towards the town's northern end, always staying in the shadows of the houses.

Upon their arrival, they were met with sight of no more than twenty German soldiers, trying to defend their positions against Red Star mercenaries who's numbers seemed to be in the hundreds.

Laura immediately gave the order for two squads to position at either edge of the houses on the street and provide fire support.

As soon as the soldiers had positioned themselves, they opened fire on the mercenaries, who had set up their positions on two, long-stretching hills to either side of the road that led out of the town. From there, they had perfect oversight over everything that wanted to leave or enter the city from the north.

"That looks like a lot of mercenaries." Clarissa noted as they were able to observe the amount of fire that was directed at the reinforcement squads as soon as the mercenaries had noticed them. "What do we do?"

"We will try to hold our ground until we get new orders or the enemy retreats. If we want to stand a better chance of doing so, we need better covers."

"What do you propose?"

"Send some men into the houses. From there it'll be easier to fire at the mercenaries."

"What about their mortars? As soon as they realize that we have men in those houses, they are surely going to shell them."

"That's a debatable point. However, the mortar fire has stopped once this assault began, so we can be sure that shelling their own men isn't something the Red Star would do."

"And since those houses are basically on top of their lines, we can be sure that they won't use their mortars." Clarissa concluded.

"That's what I hope, but we can never be sure. If they are going to shell the houses, despite everything, we need to have a reserve force on standby."

"Understood. What should I do, Captain?"

"Take three squads and position yourselves one road further to the town center. If you see the houses blowing or I order you to, you'll move in."

"Understood." Clarissa said and turned around, calling together three squads on her way down the street.

Laura then called out to the other squad leaders, thus relaying her orders to them.

None of them spoke up against the plan as they began moving towards the houses.

The first of the soldiers broke through the back door, entering the house and the others followed right behind her.

Laura, meanwhile having drawn her rifle, ordered a few squads to move to the floors above while she herself chose to remain on the ground floor.

Looking out the window she could see the flashes of the rifles, lighting up the darkness. It was clear that none of the mercenaries had a clue that they were nearby.

Soon as the squads on the upper floors gave their ready-signs Laura stepped near the window and aimed with her gun.

On commando, she and the other soldiers opened fire on the mercenaries, watching how several of them were cut down by the bullet rain.

However, their reaction could be considered everything except surprised, since only moments later, the hills had emptied and the squad leaders on the upper floors reported only a small number of kills.

Knowing what this meant, Laura stormed out of the back door. When Clarissa asked her what was wrong, she replied hastily:" We need to get out of here. The mortar shells could be here at any moment."

"What do y…"

"No time. Get moving! Now!"

Just as she had said this, the houses behind her were ripped apart by sudden explosions all over the place, taking out virtually everyone inside.

Luckily, many soldiers had gotten as nervous as Laura did and followed her out of the buildings. Only the squads on the other side of the road were completely wiped out.

"Shit! They knew that we were coming." Clarissa said.

"Well, it was a pretty foreseeable move, after all. Sending reinforcements to the point of attack is the only logical thing to do in such a situation."

Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden broadcast, coming from the HQ.

"All forces in Elbingerode. The Red Star has managed to cut through our lines. They have now established a perimeter cutting through the city and their troops to the north are being set in motion. Everyone that isn't trapped right now is to regroup at the local center of operations and prepare for a counterattack."

"You've heard it." Laura said, turned around and began sprinting in the cover of the walls.

Laura arrived back at the church, only to find a bunch of commanders arguing with each other

"Goddammit, we can't be doing a sickle-cut around their lines. It would bring us too near to the mortars." One of them spoke.

"Do you have a better idea?" The other retorted. "If we make a full frontal assault and cut into the middle of their lines, we're still surrounded and you don't want to make our problems bigger than they already are, do you?"

"At least we'd have enough reserves to cover a retreat. If we do a sickle-cut, our lines will be as thin as paper."

"Stand down, both of you." Laura spoke up.

Both women looked at her and she continued:" Arguing about which tactic to use is useless, since, in the end, I'm the one who will decide how we will solve this problem. First, let me hear what the both of you have planned."

"Very well." One of them said and led Laura to a table with a map on it.

She pointed at a long red line, that was somewhat bow-formed. It extended along the road that led into the north-western forest into the town and then to the road that led into the north-eastern forest, effectively cutting off the town's northern section.

"This is the enemy perimeter. They've managed to create and stabilize it in just a few minutes and now they are trying to take out our men in the northern part of the town. They can't run onto the field, as they would get fucked by the mortars and they can expend only a limited number of men, since using all of them to fend off the mercenaries behind them would leave the field open and we all know what that would mean. Therefore, we have proposed two solutions."

The commander nodded and the other one began to speak:" The first solution was to go around their north-eastern flank and encircle them there, so we can push them back bit by bit."

"And the other solution?" Laura turned to the commander who had spoken previously.

"The other solution." She began. "Was to attack at those two intersections and thus creating a corridor for our men to escape."

"Very well." Laura said.

After some time she said:" I'll think we'll stick with your plan." She spoke to the commander who had proposed the idea of opening an escape corridor.

As she noticed the aghast expression of the other commander, she said:" Your plan is a good one too, but we simply haven't got enough men."

"You think we'll have enough after this is over?" She asked contemptuously.

Laura just gave her a cold stare and turned around.

* * *

Frost was sitting with his back leaned against a tree while watching footage of the Red Star's soldiers slaughtering the Germans.

"What're you doing?" Lars asked as he stepped through the snow, towards Frost.

"Admiring your men, doing what they do best."

Lars just looked at him for a moment before he decided to sit down next to him.

"Where'd you get that uniform from?" He asked, curious why Frost was wearing a standard camouflage suit of the German Army.

"Got it from an inattentive German soldier. You should've seen her face when she realized that she had blade in her stomach. So worth it." Frost replied and only seconds later broke into crazed laughter.

Although Lars was kind of disturbed whenever this happened, he saw it as a sign that Frost was relaxed and that was a good thing.

He waited until the laughter had worn down and then said: ""To be honest, you had me a bit worried."

He feared that he wouldn't get an answer, but only a moment later, Frost snorted.

"About what? Me dying in there?"

"Yes, if only a bit."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I got caught up in something."

"May I ask what took so long?"

"Had to kill off several more people, including that pesky Darian Klein. Turned out he wasn't competent at all."

"I see. it happens that we make the wrong choice. Thanks for correcting that error. Still… I'm a bit concerned."

"If you're having troubles, think of the many times I managed to get through without your help. Brazil, Ukraine, Colombia, the list goes on and on."

"That may be true, but this time is different."

"What makes you think that?"

"Listen, Frost. I'm not stupid and neither is Timur. We both know that there's something big ahead, at least for you. If it's something with your past, we'll help you in any way we can. You just have to tell us, alright?"

Frost turned his head away and after a moment chuckled silently.

"Who am I?" He asked in a serious voice.

For a moment Lars couldn't believe his ears.

"Excuse me? That's not supposed to be a real question, is it?"

"What? Are you afraid of giving the wrong answer?"

"No, but…"

Frost suddenly turned his head back to him and hissed:" Then just answer the question. You know who I am, so it can't be that hard."

"Very well." Lars sighed. "You are Frost. One of the most highly-decorated soldiers of the MRISF and yet like a ghost. Everybody knows you, yet few have seen you in combat and even fewer know the full extend of your capabilities."

"See? That wasn't so hard. Now tell me, who was I before joining the MRISF?"

"I… uh…"

"You don't know, do you? And you don't want to. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

"Just like the Injections?"

"Oh, come on. I thought we already talked about that."

"We did and if you're really as attentive as you pretend, you should know that the Injections have killed everyone who's gotten one, no exception."

"Then I'm gonna be the first one to survive. Those data are going to be a huge leap forward for a geneticists."

"I don't doubt your determination. However, what I doubt is your ability to survive something so intense in your current condition. You've got a thigh that's beyond fucked, a blunt trauma on your head and… Heiligescheißewaszumteufelistdenndas?"

He was shocked and spoke an uncontrolled outburst of gibberish German when he noticed that a knife was stuck beneath Frost's armpit.

"Would you keep it down, please? it's just a knife." Frost tried to calm him down.

For a moment, Lars didn't know what to say, but then he began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Frost asked.

"Oh, it's just that… We've known each other for almost twelve years now and I'm still surprised by how reckless you can be towards yourself."

"I'm only trying to achieve the best for everyone."

"I don't want to be an asshole, but all the crazy stuff you're doing can even get the most cool-headed of commanders worried."

"That's what I was trained to do, Lars. I've always trusted your judgement and therefore, you should do the same."

Lars looked him in the face for a while and then said:" You know what? You're right. I may not know what you have planned, but I trust you and I won't complain since I know that you'll get out of any trouble you'll manage to get yourself into."

"Is this what you truly think, or are you just saying that to calm me down?"

At that, Lars had to laugh again.

"You're talking of trust, but have you ever listened to yourself?"

"Please." Frost sighed. "Just answer my question."

"Well, I hardly know myself. My mind tells me to trust you, but my human sense of danger tells me to be worried. What to choose?"

"Choose to care about yourself. Primarily, you are the commander of a division. You have to make the choices on your own. Caring too much about others will only hurt the sovereignty of your mind and thoughts."

With that Frost stood up and left the snow colored red where the blood had been running down on his flank.

He turned around again and said:" Come on, Lars. I don't want to get that Injection while a knife's stuck under my arm. Will you help me?"

"Gladly." Lars said as he stood up as well, and proceeded to get his medical equipment.

* * *

The mercenary pulled the trigger, but she dodged the bullets and sliced his throat with her knife.

She smiled as the, now dead, man fell to the ground.

However, her joy was misplaced as only seconds later, another group of mercenaries, well out of her knife's range, opened fire.

She jumped aside, hiding behind a damaged house wall and pulled her communicator.

"This is Ronya. The eastern front is secured, but it'd be nice if you guys sent me backup."

"Roger, reinforcements are underway, keep your position until they arrive."

"Aye, Sir."

She sheathed her knife and drew her handgun. Looking around the corner, she spotted a few mercenaries behind a makeshift barricade, firing aimlessly at the street in front of them, possibly to scare off any further attempts to push them back. However, it didn't matter as long as they wouldn't try attempt another advance.

Finally, her reinforcements arrived in form of about seventeen other soldiers.

"We need to get to the other side of the street." One of them shouted.

"Got it." Ronya said and leaped forward, into the machine gun fire.

She had been trained for such, some would say audacious, actions ever since she was born and therefore exceeded at their execution compared to the rest of the German soldiers.

She performed a number of artistic stunts while dodging every bullet that was fired at her.

She landed behind the wall of the house on the other side of the street when she heard one of the soldiers shout:" How the hell are we supposed to get over there? We're not artists like you."

"Well, you'll have to think of something else." She shouted back.

"Goddammit. You Special Forces think you're something special, don't you?"

"We are." She replied and turned around to run into the direction of the trapped troops.

She found them, entrenched near the town's border from where sharpshooters were returning fire into the woods and regular soldiers were defending their back.

She held her hands into the air to show she didn't mean any harm and luckily, the soldier didn't fire.

"The defense corridor is open, right?" She asked her concerned.

"It is. Now make sure to get out as fast as possible. I'll cover you."

"Aye."

The soldiers climbed out of the small trench and began running across the snowy lawn that was between the house and their positions.

Immediately, the mercenaries that were left to the west, opened fire and Ronya returned it likewise.

A bit to the east she could see other soldiers running through the snow, an indicator that the escape corridor was stable.

She turned her attention back to the mercenaries and it paid off as one after another fell to the ground.

To make it harder for the mercenaries to hit her, she laid down in the snow and shoveled a bit of it on her back to reduce her visibility with the black uniform.

After minutes of returning and dodging fire, a person called out to her.

"Ronya, we're all clear. Retreat, retreat."

She turned around to see Clarissa alongside another woman, likely the commander of the troops they had just saved.

She had just arrived at the house corner, when her leg gave in and she fell into the snow.

Seconds later, the pain set in.

Her face contorted by pain, she turned around to see how the blood, pouring out of her leg, colored the snow red.

Knowing that she had to stay down, she began crawling into the direction of the house's door. She had to get cover since she wouldn't be able to run away.

When she laid in front of the door she lifted her head a bit, but lowered it immediately when she saw a flash on the other side of the field.

A bullet barely missed her head and she sighed. That meant she couldn't just stand up to reach the door handle. Now, creativity was of utmost importance.

"Fuck it." She thought and cut away a part of her uniform's sleeve, using her knife.

She tied a knot into it so that a loop was created. She tightened the loop around the shaft of her pistol and threw it over the handle while holding on to the other end of the piece of cloth.

The pistol was heavy enough to pull down the handle and she used her other arm to push open the door.

Ronya crawled in and kicked the door with her other leg.

The door closed, but that didn't keep the sniper from another murder attempt, as a bullet broke through the wooden door and hit the ground right next to her.

Hastily, Ronya pushed herself up and limped to the stairway at the end of the corridor.

Just as she stepped on the first stair, another bullet broke through the wooden door and hit the ground where she had been lying a few moments ago.

She didn't turn around to look, but instead increased her speed, although it made the pain in her leg worse. Still, she didn't have much of a choice.

Groaning in pain, she arrived at the first floor and looked for a safe spot. She couldn't go the side of the house that facing the plains, since the sniper would spot her and then it would certainly be over.

She turned around and spotted a door, the room behind which seemed to be on the other side of the house.

Opening the door, she was lucky to find out that she had guessed right. There was only a single, small window in the room and from there she could see into the town.

She sighed in relief as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

However, her joy didn't last long as she clearly heard how someone broke through the door downstairs.

Hastily, she looked around for a place to hide. There was only a small bed with a bedside table on the other side from where she was standing.

"That's so cliché." She thought as she crawled underneath the bed, her leg protesting by sending waves of pain through her body.

Apparently, her act of hiding hadn't been quite silent as the door opened soon after she had taken her hiding position.

She saw a pair of snow-covered boots, which's camo pattern matched it perfectly.

They were approaching the bed, but stopped right before it. Ronya heard a clicking sound and then the mercenary spoke in German:" You have some balls to call me at a time like this. You know, I could be dead right now."

…

"Understood. I'm on my way."

The mercenary turned around, leaving the door in the room open.

Ronya sighed in relief as she heard the heavy boots, making their way down the stairs. She decided to wait another fifteen minutes, to make sure that the sniper wasn't around anymore.

While she was lying under the bed she could hear the gunfire slowly distancing itself from her position, indicating that her comrades were being pushed further back. But it could also be that the number of fighters was steadily decreasing. On who's side, she couldn't tell.

Eventually, the decrease of the shots volume came to an halt. Though they still were nearby, she concluded that the distance was now about two-hundred meters, give or take.

Eventually, she crawled out from underneath the bed and sat down on the site that was facing the wall with the door in it.

When she heard a creek coming from the window, she nervously turned her head to see a mercenary hopping into the room through the opened window.

Without wasting another thought, she drew her gun and aimed it at him, however, when she fired, the bullets seemed to just go through him.

Suddenly, she felt a piece of cold metal being pressed against her neck.

"Don't be sad. You're not the first one falling for that trick." A boyish voice sounded from behind her.

Grumbling, she dropped her gun as she lifted her hands.

"Good girl. Now turn around so I can properly aim at your face."

She turned to the mercenary, who was now taking a big step backwards, effectively bringing himself out of her range.

"What do you want?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

"Well, since you seem to be injured, I thought I'd lend you a hand."

She just looked at him for a moment before breaking into laughter.

"I'm pretty sure that this is either a joke or a lie."

"Would you rather bleed out?"

"Are you making fun of me?" She asked, returning to her serious voice. "Just so you know, I've learned first-aid for battle situations when I was four. That includes bandaging my own wounds to keep the worst from happening."

"Well, that might be true, but you need your hands for that."

"What are you implying?" She asked while grabbing the gun holstered on her belt next to her.

"I'm implying that it'd be a shame if someone… made them useless."

She wanted to grab her gun, but he was faster and after two quick shots her arms fell onto the bed.

She tried not to scream as the pain set in, but her contorted face made it very hard to hide the fact that it was hurting like hell.

"Still thinking you can do it without my help?" He asked gloatingly.

"You're an ass."

Instead of replying he fired another bullet, this time into her other leg.

"If I had a bullet for every time I heard that, I could do this a million times over… It would be fun at first, but it'd probably get boring after some time… And I hate boredom."

He holstered his gun and said:" Since I'm a nice person, I'll ask you another time: Shall I help you or not?"

Ronya's face was still contorted by pain but she managed to say:" You won't stop h-huh? Very well, do w-what you want, but be c-careful. I don't take s-such things lightly."

"Thanks for the warning." He replied. "But I've gotta get you ready for treatment."

"I hope it d-doesn't involve anything indecent." She teased him. "After all, you could do anything y-you want now."

"An alluring thought, but I'm an honest person. Also, the things are only indecent as long as we choose to view them in such way."

"Ooh, how intellectual."

"Shut up." He laughed while he put aside her equipment and lifted her legs, that were still hanging over the bed's edge.

As he did so, another wave of pain shot through Ronya's body, but she suppressed it, only letting escape a silent groan.

He noticed this and asked:" Feeling alright?"

Snorting, she retorted:" You've got some guts. You shot me three times and now you're asking if I'm alright. The hell is wrong with you?"

He chuckled and took his backpack off while speaking in a calm manner:" What's wrong with me? In a certain way, a lot of things. But I'm getting off track."

He turned to the side and began unpacking four suspicious-looking capsules from his backpack.

After taking another glance, she realized what those were.

They were foam pieces. Once the bullet was removed, they were inserted into the wound where they would absorb the blood and expand, eventually closing the wound to prevent any further blood loss.

He closed his backpack again and put it to the side of the bed.

"Wait!" Ronya said. "How are you planning on removing the bullets?"

"Don't worry about that." He said as he removed the glove from his left hand, revealing the cold metal underneath.

"You're not seriously going to try remove them that way?" She asked shocked.

"I'm not." He said and with that, the tip of his index finger transformed into a pair of small pincers.

"No way." She exclaimed.

"Surprised?" He asked while he carefully fished for the bullet in the wound on her right arm.

"I don't get to see things like that every day, so yeah, I'm fairly stunned."

"I see." He said.

For the next time, he didn't make any attempts to continue the conversation. Instead, he pulled out the bullet from her right arm's wound, making her gasp. He carefully put down it down on the bedside table and then proceeded to grab one of the capsules.

What was also impressive was the fact that, despite all the gunfire, he didn't flinch a single time. If she was in his place, she would have freaked out by now.

He opened it and let the foam pieces slide into her wound where they immediately began to expand and close the wound. It burned a bit, but she didn't really mind.

He went on to remove the bullet in her right arm. He was careful not to make any sudden movements and managed to remove the bullet without making her feel worse than she already was.

Having put the foam pieces into the bullet wound on her right arm, he moved onto the other side of the bed where he began working at her left arm.

She tilted her head to the left to look at Frost and then sighed.

"You're so nice to me. Why are you doing this, Frost?" She finally dared to speak the truth.

He looked up and asked:" You know who I am?"

"Well." She chuckled. "With all the rumors around, it's very hard to not know who you are. But back to my question. Why are you so nice to an enemy?"

"Why am I so nice?" He repeated the question and chuckled quietly. "That's a good question."

He chuckled again.

"It doesn't make sense, right? I mean, it would make things much easier if I just… killed you. Here and now." He said in a low voice, though it didn't sound like he was talking to Ronya.

She watched how his right hand wandered down to his belt, where a pistol was holstered.

"I could end this right here, right now. No one will see or hear anything. You'll die alone. It would make it so easy." He mused, but suddenly his hand froze and he turned back to her. "Too easy, right?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Life is never as easy as it seems. Both the Red Star and the German Military have to realize that. None of them are giving their best, therefore they need someone who can pose a challenge to them. For the Germans it's the Red Star and for the Red Star it's Schwarzer Hase. The only problem is that we've hit you at a bad time and place. Therefore, I believe you should get a chance to face us again, once you're prepared."

"Okay… That's…"

"Strange?"

"No… not strange. It's kind of… honorable."

"That's not the way I'd put it, but it's close enough."

"Then what would you call it?"

"Self-motivated."

"Why that?"

"I don't think that many of the Red Star's men may agree with my way of thinking. They are just interested in solving problems fast, not efficient. If we defeat you in an honest manner on the field, we'll grow stronger and get better at defeating stronger enemies."

"So that's your plan…" She didn't know what to say. "But still… why? Why do you care so much about a terrorist's abilities to fight honest? After all, the probability that they'll do such a things is low."

In response, he just chuckled.

"You sound pretty confident, but you wouldn't be if you knew the truth."

"Well then, enlighten me."

"And then kill you because you know too much? I'd rather not." He said and returned to fishing the bullet out of her wound.

He pulled again, but this time the bullet was stuck and Ronya let out a small cry at the sudden pain.

"Well, that's… unfortunate, to say the least. I'll have to pull harder this time, so don't you cry out or anything. The last thing I'd want is to be convicted of rape by my own men."

"Do I really sound like that?"

"If you'd only listen to yourself, you could answer that question yourself. Then again, who am I to complain? It's probably just my imagination."

"That's what I thought."

"Before I pull, I have one more question."

"Shoot."

"What's your cup size?"

"My cup Size?" She repeated confused when she felt an immense pain in her left arm. She cried out and turned her head, looking angrily at him, when she saw the bullet between the pincers on his finger.

She turned to look him in the eyes, or at least where she assumed them to be, since all of his face was covered by his combat helmet and mouth protection.

He noticed that and lifted his hands in a defensive manner.

"I just wanted to make it as painless as possible." He tried to defend himself.

"Well, you failed." She replied angrily.

"As I told Mia before: Every medical treatment that doesn´t consist of drinking tea comes with at least some amount of pain."

"I thought you killed her."

"I did, but before that, I was treating her wound."

"Weren't you chasing her across the town?"

"Nope. I stabbed her and brought her to somewhere far away from here to treat her wounds. Basically, the same I'm doing with you right now." He explained to her while letting another bunch of foam pieces slide onto her wound.

"How comes that she's dead now? Aren't you keen on saving the members of Schwarzer Hase?"

"Well, she's asked to many questions and paid the price. If it calms you down, I kill everyone who asks too much questions, even if they are members of the Red Star."

"How reassuring." She said in a sarcastic manner.

"Also, you've gotten pretty deep into the matter as well, so I'm recommending you to stop." He said while he began working on her left leg.

"Is there anything I can do?" She asked and averted her gaze, turning her head and eyes towards the ceiling.

"Not really." He said and chuckled while pulling out the bullet in the wound on her left leg, this time without causing great pain. Then he moved on to empty the last of the capsules and put its contents into her wound.

"Done."

His index finger took its normal form again and he moved back to the other side of the bed where he put his left glove back on. He strapped his backpack to his back and opened the window whilst stepping on the sill with one foot when Ronya exclaimed:" Don't you think you're a bit too fast?"

"What're you talking about?" He asked, sounding fairly uninterested.

"Thanks to you, I can't walk anywhere."

"Is there anything else?"

"You could at least try to get me out of here since this town is going to be overrun by your men shortly."

"It already is, but you're right. If Schwarzer Hase is supposed to continue operating in a functional way, I'll have to get you out of here. Now, how do you think I should do this?"

"Why're you asking me?"

"Because you wanted this."

He grumbled quietly and she thought to have heard something along the lines of:" Lazy bitch."

Nonetheless, she ignored that insult and thought about a way of how he might get her out of here.

"You don't have a wheelbarrow around by any chance, do you?"

"Nope."

After a while, he sighed and said:" You know what? I'll just carry you on my back. If you're okay with it, that is."

"Nah, I don't …. I don't trust you."

"It'd be strange if you did. Nonetheless, it's your only choice if you want to get out of here alive."

She grumbled a bit and then said:" Very well, but you'll be in trouble if you pull any tricks."

In response to this threat, he chuckled and said:" I'd be intimidated, if it wasn't for the fact that you can use neither your arms nor your legs. You also have to consider that, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago."

"That's reassuring." She said sarcastically at which he laughed.

She managed to sit up in the bed, as she didn't need her arms to do that.

Once she sat, however, Frost said:" Alright, now put your arms around my neck and lay your chin on my shoulders… And before you say anything: I know it's gonna hurt, but it's the only way."

"Actually…" She began. "I wasn't going to complain."

"Really?" He asked, sounding rather suspicious of what she had said. "Well, I kinda have b-… other experiences when it comes to dealing with girls your age."

"Well, you should know that, whoever they are, I'm not anything like them." She replied, equally infuriated as he had been before.

"You're probably right." He muttered and raised his voice again. "Now then, hop on." He said as he knelt down in front of her.

Despite the pain, jolting through her legs like thousands of knifes, Ronya stood up and put her arms around his neck.

Now that this was done, he put his hands under her upper legs, supporting her weight so she didn't had to strangulate him when clinging to his neck.

He stood up with ease despite the heavy package on his back that now consisted of her and his backpack.

"Window or door?" He suddenly asked her.

It took her a moment to realize that he was talking about the way they were supposed to leave the room.

"Window." She said just to see what would happen.

"Alright, but you better pull in your legs. The last thing we want are bruises."

She did as he said and suddenly he jumped forward, passing through the small frame of the window.

In that moment, her heart skipped a beat, as she didn't expect anything in that way.

When he touched the ground, he did so softly and she could hardly feel the impact. Still, her breathing was a bit rapid, which he noticed.

"You didn't think I'd really do that, did you?"

"To be honest, no." She replied, grumbling silently afterwards.

The fact that he'd been able to surprise her had snapped her back to reality. He still was a mercenary and her enemy no matter how nice he pretended to be. Yet somehow, she didn't get the feeling she normally got, when she was around an enemy. For some reason, she didn't feel threatened, even though she knew what kind of person he was. It was the exact opposite, as her eyelids began to drop more frequently and she always had to force herself to keep them up. She knew that this wasn't the cause of tiredness.

"You're scary." She thought out loud.

Instead of replying, he lifted his head, gazing into the sky.

He remained silent, so Ronya assumed that he didn't hear or just ignored her.

However, that conclusion was wrong as he suddenly replied:" What about it? If you're feeling uncomfortable I can always let you walk alone."

"That's not it." Her voice went up as she protested, however, she began to stutter when she realized that it didn't fit with reality. "I mean… I…uh… I feel uncomfortable, but not because of… of you."

"You just said that I was scary, so there has to be something that makes you feel uncomfortable."

"I'm not feeling uncomfortable!" She exclaimed.

"And that's exactly why I'm scared." She whispered a second later.

However, she had forgotten that her mouth was right next to his ear.

She realized this as soon as he opened his mouth again:" And you're scared because you think that you should feel uncomfortable around me?"

It was more of a question, asked by someone who didn't had a clue, nonetheless, it made the next thing she wanted to say, come out as a mere stutter.

"What … how… why… how could you think something like this? I don't… I don't need to be scared because I don't… I don't feel comfortable around someone."

"Then stop whining already." He grumbled.

"I'm not whining!" She protested to which he replied:" Your mouth's moving and complaints are coming out of it. That's what I call whining."

She wanted to say something, but then decided to remain silent and instead put on her pout-face.

Although she wouldn't admit it openly, she was worried. What would happen if they reached the front lines? They couldn't just slip through, could they?

All these thoughts going through her head, she didn't notice that Frost had stopped and now they were standing in front of a house.

After a moment, he asked:" Street or roof?"

"What?" She asked, taken by surprise.

"Street or roof?" He repeated his question.

Knowing what he meant she answered determined.

"Roof."

"It seems you're beginning to develop the right taste for certain situations."

With that, he jumped into the air with Ronya barely able to hold back a scream of excitement. This is experience was just too thrilling for her.

He landed on the roof and immediately noticed her rapid breathing.

"Everything alright?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah." She replied. "I'm just a bit … excited."

"I see. You don't get to do stuff like that in the army every day, do you?"

"We're regularly conducting exercise with IS. Flying through the air with them feels great, but the fact that it's only an exercise makes it not half as exciting."

Without another word he began walking across the roof while carefully eyeing up the streets next to the house. The gunshots had become much louder, therefore they had to be near the frontlines.

"Great." She heard him mutter. "Just great."

At this point, she knew that there was trouble ahead.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, concerned, not for him, but for herself since she couldn't defend herself, should something happen.

"Well, there certainly is a problem." He replied before going on to explain it. "The Red Star's forces have formed a defensive perimeter throughout the city. If we want to get through unseen, we have to sneak through one of the buildings. However, the possibility that we'll be meeting other soldiers inside is high as well, so I'll have to go ahead and scout for a safe route."

"How can I know that you're not leading me into some kind of trap?"

"Don't get me started with that kind of stuff again. That Klein was already paranoid enough."

"Who's Klein?" She asked confused.

"A… Someone I know… nothing more."

Her lips began to form a smile at that. Finally, she got him.

"You're lying." She said determined.

The truth was that she had been talking to Clarissa before heading to open up the escape corridor. In the course of the conversation, Clarissa had told her about Mia's death and the theories she had put up. She had also revealed that Mia had been travelling with another soldier, namely Darian Klein.

She turned her attention back to what was happening around her, when she heard a quiet grumble, coming from Frost's direction.

"Who told you?" He asked in a low voice.

"Clarissa and by the way, the rest of Schwarzer Hase knows too." She replied hoping to intimidate him through that.

He let out a grumble and muttered:" I didn't expect anything less from that hag."

"You don't like being played, do you?" She asked.

"I don't." He replied sulky. "And if you want to see next day's light, you better keep your mouth shut."

"I get it." She said, smiling to herself.

"Anyway, since you're the second most paranoid person I've ever met, I have no other choice than to scout for safe route with you on my back. You know that this gradually decreases the chances of our survival?"

"Our survival? Now hold on a minute, will you? I'm the one who's got neither legs nor arms to use and therefo…"

"I'm the one who carries a person I'm supposed to kill on my back, therefore I have to be careful that none of the other soldiers sees me like that. Now, if you have anything more to say, do it like the s in island: Be silent!"

Ronya couldn't do anything different than put on her pout-face and look on the ground since she knew that arguing further would lead to nothing.

She lifted her head again when Frost spoke once more:" You still haven't told me if you want to take the risk or if you want to stay here, while I'm gone."

Again, she looked onto the roof for a few moments before replying:" I think I'll stay here. I'm not really keen on finding out how you'll solve the problem if you run into your own men."

"That's a good choice." He said as he began to let her legs slide to the ground and she removed her arms from his neck. She touched the ground butt-first and laid down on her back.

"Ah, this feels good." She heard Frost say as he stretched his back, making several crackling sounds by doing so.

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. Either he was making fun of her or she really was heavy.

She shook her head. Thinking of such things was only a waste of time. She should rather think about how she could continue when she was reunited with her unit.

Frost leaped over the edge of the roof and disappeared from her field of sight. She didn't really pay attention.

Minute after minute came and went, all the while she didn't really know what to think about. She could move around, but that would only result in more pain and keep her wounds from healing properly.

She grumbled. It was all Frost's fault. That spoiled, selfish, disgusting… idiot. She knew a thousand other words she could describe him with, none of which were positive and still, she was hoping that he'd return as soon as possible.

Was she worried?

Probably.

About what, she couldn't tell.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to her Frost leaped over the roof's edge from beneath and landed right next to her.

"Everything's ready." He said and Ronya immediately sat up, trying to get on her feet without looking too pained.

He knelt down in front of her so she could put her arms around his neck and finally, he put his hands under her thighs to lift her up again.

"Feeling comfortable?" He asked.

"Y-Yes." She replied hesitantly, not knowing if that question was meant serious.

"Then let's go."

With the force of his legs he pushed them off the ground without breaking a sweat.

This time, Ronya chose to relax instead of nervously waiting for him to hit the ground again. Gliding through the air simply felt too good.

He landed in front of a simple two-floor residential building and bashed in the window.

They entered through the broken window and he stepped towards the door at the other end of the room.

He carefully opened the door and they entered the corridor behind. It was a narrow, long-stretched room with bad lighting. It had only two windows at its ends from where the pale moonlight fell onto the floor.

He turned his head right and left before turning right and walking down the corridor.

Suddenly, a door, she hadn't noticed until now, swung open and two mercenaries stepped into the corridor.

"Quick, close your eyes." He whispered.

Without protesting she followed his order and closed her eyes.

Next, she felt how he continued to step forward, keeping a slow pace.

He stopped, when one of the mercenaries said:" Hold on. Who's that on your back?"

"Mind your own business, Soldier." Frost replied sharply.

"I won't." The mercenary said. "That girl looks like one of those IS Spec-Ops soldiers."

"Well, she isn't. Now get out of my way. I've got business to attend to."

"That patch on her shoulder says otherwise."

"And even if, it's none of your business." Frost sounded fairly aggressive.

"Sir." The soldier said with serious voice. "If you're plotting against our leadership, I'll have to report and confine you."

"So that's how you wanna play?" Frost asked quietly and the next thing she heard was a splashing sound.

She opened her eyes and saw that Frost had laid his hand on each of the guards' chests.

When he pulled them back, another splashing sound occurred and Ronya realized that he had stabbed the soldiers with something.

Both of them began writhing in visible pain and the arteries on their faces became visible.

Frost took a step back from the two mercenaries and in that moment, their arteries burst and the blood spouted from their faces. A few splatters also made their way onto Ronya's face.

"What did you do?" She asked shocked.

"I just injected them with one of my favorite neurotoxins." He replied and lifted his feet over the corpses to continue stepping down the corridor.

Ronya was shocked. Not that him being a terrorist was already bad enough, he didn't even show loyalty towards his men. Also, if he was willing to kill his own men, there had to be some ulterior motive behind his deeds. It had to be like that. There was no other reason.

"Do you have no honor?" The words escaped her mouth.

"I think the answer is obvious." He replied chuckling.

It left Ronya only more shocked than before.

Finally, they arrived at the end of the corridor where he bashed another window. This was when Ronya realized that the gunshots had gotten louder. They had to be near the frontlines, no doubt.

Frost climbed through the window and jumped out, landing in the snow and continuing towards the wall of the building that was on the opposite side from the window.

He pressed his shoulder against the wall and slowly stepped forward until they reached the corner. He peeked around and after a second turned back and said:" Our destination's just around the corner."

Finally, she thought and sighed in relief.

However, her heart skipped another beat when Frost jumped into the air without warning and landed on the roof of the house they had been next to.

This time it wasn't a flat roof, but rather a gable roof. Frost barely managed to land safely. Now Ronya could see that they were near the church building, where the Germans had set up their HQ.

Frost began balancing across the roof, slowly making one step after another until he made a turn right and leaped across the divide between the church and the other building.

Ronya was getting used to this, therefore, she didn't feel quite as excited as during the first times.

Frost managed to enter the church's tower through a big hole in it's walls, caused by a mortar shell.

Right after he landed, he looked around spotted a ladder, leading into the church hall.

Instead of grabbing onto the ladder, he hopped into the hole, making his way downwards.

He landed on the stony ground, behind a bunch of boxes without making a noise, so that the Germans who were inside the church didn't notice them.

"Very well." He whispered. "This is were our ways part. However, before I go, I want you to repay that favor."

"I don't owe you anything." She replied, equally quiet. "And even if, there's nothing I could give you."

"I think your eyepatch would be enough."

"Wha- My eyepatch? What… why?"

"Just think of it as a souvenir. I quite enjoyed our little journey."

"You want it as a souvenir? I… I don't know.."

"Pretty please? I mean, it's not like your overly attached to that thing."

"If you insist that much…" She muttered and took of her helmet to loosen the eyepatch around her left eye.

After she had handed it to him, he waited until she had put her helmet back on and whispered:" Well, Bye then."

With that he leaped into the air, directly through the hole they had entered through and again without anyone noticing him.

Staring at the spot for a moment, Ronya shook her head when a German soldier finally spotted her and asked:" What are you doing over there?"

* * *

Laura was quite surprised when she saw Ronya walking towards her with a pair of crutches.

"Where've you been?" She asked with a strict voice.

"It's a bit crazy." Ronya began. "You see, I was shot in the leg by a sniper and managed to get into an empty house. I was almost discovered but then that Frost-guy came and helped me treat my wounds and…"

She abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence and began coughing. She let go of the crutches, falling to the ground and violently shaking.

Laura ran over and knelt down next to her. It was then that she realized that several of Ronya's facial arteries had turned blue and swollen.

"Speak to me!" She demanded but Ronya kept coughing.

"Say something!"

"He lied to me (cough)… about everything."

Ronya grabbed her arm and whispered:" Promise me, Laura, that, whenever you talk to him, don't believe a word of what he'll say. Never."

With that, her facial arteries exploded.

Blood was splattering over the ground and onto Laura's clothes as she knelt in front of the corpse.

After looking at Ronya's deformed face for a while, she stood up and took her communicator.

"This is Captain Bodewig. The Situation has become worse. If we want to hold the city, we need every single tank at the base right now."


	13. Night Shifts

**So, a new chapter is finally out, thereby confirming that I'm not dead. Although I've never set myself a deadline, it feels like I'm taking too long. I could go on and blame this on writer's block and school, but it can mostly be attributed to the fact that I'm a lazy POS.**

 **However, I don't want this preamble to be focused solely on my bad qualities. Today is rather a reason for me to celebrate.**

 **You may have already noticed that the day this chapter came out is the 9th of May 2019. It's been 365 days since I published the first chapter and the story has since lived through all self-doubts I've ever had. To me, writing this is not only about creating worlds, persons and their stories but also about perseverance and not giving up, despite having moments where all I wanna do is disappear. But, it'd be selfish to think that I'd be the only one having such problems.**

 **Therefore, to all struggling authors who read this: I wish you luck with all your projects. Don't give up.**

 **To the readers: I wish you will find many entertaining stories and now enjoy the new chapter.**

* * *

"As of 3 AM Western European Time, the offensive of the terroristic organization known as the Red Star has swept over most parts of the capital region of Portugal. We're now going live to our reporter in Lisbon to give us a more precise overview of the situation."

The picture, showed by the screen, made a transition and showed the picture of a young woman, holding a microphone in her hands.

"Thank you very much." She began. "I'm here with members of the Portuguese military. Say…" She turned to one of the soldiers next to her. "… How's the current situation?"

The soldier began speaking Portuguese and kept doing for so for quite some time until he silenced and nodded at the reporter who then turned back to the camera.

"Apparently, the chances of stopping the Red Star within the next hours are low. They're saying that the front is expanding too fast and that they'll have no chance to contain the Red Star's forces if they are facing them alone."

Just as the reporter had finished her sentence, people began shouting in the background and several guns were being fired off into the sky.

A moment later, the screen went black.

"That soldier missed the part with the IS being taken out." Hoseok said while closing the holographic window on his wrist projector.

"How can you tell?" Tatenashi asked.

"I've been running this footage through some translation software and I pretty much got the same result every time." He replied.

"Well, it's not surprising that they would hide such information from the public. After all, if the loss of their IS unit became known to everyone, Portugal's ability to project power would be diminished."

"Probably. However, a country like Portugal doesn't really has the need to project power, right? I mean, they're in the EU and NATO, so there are a lot of allies they can rely on if they have to."

"When we talked earlier today you said that the Portuguese Government has most likely been killed. Don't you think that there may be anyone who's taken advantage of the power vacuum and wants the incident to remain unreported?"

"I don't know." Hoseok shrugged. "It could be anyone opportunistic enough, but those that are the likeliest are the armed forces in my opinion."

"We need to be careful." Tatenashi warned him. "The Portuguese Military isn't monitored that close by our relatives in Europe and Phantom Task likes to exploit our blind spots."

"You think so? I have my doubts about that."

"Better safe than sorry. We've ignored Phantom Task one time already and that was a huge mistake. Anyway, did you find anything new about the Red Star?"

"Not really." Hoseok replied as pressed a button on his wrist projector, thus deactivating it.

Hoseok stood up from his chair and made his way towards the exit when Tatenashi stopped him:" You told Chifuyu about the First-Contact Incident, didn't you?"

"Is that a problem?" He asked back.

"Right now, it's not. However, you should be more careful when talking to outsiders, especially when it's about the Family." She replied.

"Yes." He replied, noddingly while keeping his eyes on the floor.

He then turned around, leaving the room.

Tatenashi was right. He had become careless. This was because, back in Korea, he didn't had to worry about whom to talk to. Most of them had been members of his department anyway.

But now was not the time to regret having the wrong habits. Rather he should celebrate the fact that he was walking through the corridors of the IS Academy.

This was the place where the IS Representatives from all over the world would gather to train and become the world's elite.

Surely, all of them had their little secrets. After all, if it wasn't like that, Tatenashi would've never come here.

His gaze fell upon one of the shimmering holograms that could be found all over the Academy. Right now, it was displaying the time, telling him that it was only a few minutes until lunch break.

He opened another window on his wrist projector, displaying a map of the Academy. This place was still a little alien to him, so he couldn't get around without help… yet.

He eventually found the cafeteria a few minutes before the lessons would end and proceeded to grab some food.

It was just then, that the bell rang, announcing the end of the first set of lessons for this day. Theoretical lessons were over now and after lunch break most classes would continue their lessons in the arenas, utilizing the knowledge they had gained that morning.

It didn't take long until Ichika entered the cafeteria, followed by several girls.

He knew some of them from the Sarashiki Family's dossiers.

The blonde Cecilia Alcott, descendant of a lesser house of British nobles. The twin-ponytailed, brunette Houki Shinonono, sister of the IS's inventor. The blonde, short-haired Charlotte Dunois, formerly known as Charles Dunois.

Those were faces not unknown to the Sarashiki Family. When he entered the Academy he had managed to get access to the dossiers made by the European part of the Family.

It seemed to him that neither Ichika nor the girls were aware of his presence. He waited patiently until each of them had gotten a tray of food for themselves.

"Hey, Ichika." He called out to them.

Confused at first, Ichika turned his head, but his expression turned into something that Hoseok would describe as a mixture of relief and uncertainty.

Hosoek waved at him, making the other boy understand that he should sit down next to him.

Ichika smiled and nodded before he turned around to say something to the girls.

When he finished, the girls turned their heads to look at Hoseok. They didn't seem all too surprised by another boy.

For a moment he wondered, but then he remembered that they had already meet him and given a brief introduction the night before.

"Good morning." Ichika greeted him as he sat down on the table.

"Likewise. How're the morning lessons?" Hoseok asked.

"Like always." Ichika replied, seeming not to keen on talk about this particular matter.

"Anyways." He began while the girls began sitting at the table as well. "How's Tatenashi?"

At the mention of her name, the other girls' immediately put on sharp glares.

Although Hoseok was able to detect a few drops of sweat, forming on Ichika's forehead, he didn't seem intimidated. Therefore, he replied:" Oh, Tatenashi's well. The gas didn't hurt her all too much, so she might be able to join lessons again tomorrow already."

"That's good to hear." Ichika replied while chuckling sheepishly. He then proceeded to turn his attention to his food.

It didn't took long until Kanzashi and Lingyin Huang arrived at the cafeteria as well, taking their seats on the table as well.

Now Hoseok could count a total of eight persons at the table, six of which were girls.

All of them were laughing and chatting with the other persons on the table, preferably Ichika. However, Hoseok was able to see through this masquerade. In reality, they were all trying to win Ichika's attention and make him ignore the other girls.

Hoseok could just frown at such behavior. They might not have noticed, but there was an organization out there that probably wanted them dead.

A perfect opportunity to make them understand came when Kanzashi asked him:" How's Onee-chan?"

"She's alright." He replied. "I was talking to her about the Red Star just now."

"The Red Star?" At that, everyone at the table lifted their heads and looked at him.

"I'm pretty sure that you've already heard about those guys." Hoseok said.

"Now that I'm thinking about it." Houki muttered. "Wasn't there something about a terrorist attack?"

Hoseok facepalmed. The only reason that someone was uninformed in such a way had to be an utter lack of interest.

"Well, there was a terrorist attack. Do you want me to read the statistics?" He asked, trying his best not to sound disrespectful.

"Couldn't hurt." Houki replied casually.

Hoseok opened another window on his wrist watch, showing him the statistics that were being constantly updated by his fellow brothers and sisters in Europe.

He cleared his throat and began to speak:" Currently, the death estimates are reaching from somewhere between a half to five million and damage in the height of about a hundred million USD has been done. If the attack carries on like this Portugal's economy will sustain lasting damage from which it won't recover within the coming years."

As expected, the jaws of everyone at the table, except him and Kanzashi, dropped when he finished speaking and proceeded to show them images of the destroyed Lisbon.

"How did that happen?" Charlotte whispered.

"I don't know." He replied a bit too loud. "All I can say is that Europe has never been this fucked up since World War 2 ended."

He then turned to Kanzashi and said:" We were talking about Tatenashi just now. Say, would you mind bringing her some food after that or should I?"

"As much as I'd like to take care of Onee-chan, lessons will resume immediately after lunch break, so I won't have any time to do that." She replied.

"Very well." Hoseok replied.

At this moment, Ichika looked up at the watch and muttered:" That's strange."

"What's strange?" Everyone asked.

"At this time, Chifuyu-nee normally comes around to tell everyone to hurry up."

The girls put on their glares again. For some reason they seemed offended by the fact that Ichika was talking about his sister.

Unbeknownst to them, Chifuyu was sitting in her office, going over a report, sent by one of her government contacts. over and over again.

"This morning, the Pentagon released several pictures of villages in the Iranian Desert, all of which have been burned down completely. Further investigation has revealed that the damage was done by plasma weapons and although the Iranian Government has repeatedly denied any involvement, officials are questioning whether or not this place has been attacked by their army in order to suppress separatist movements in the region."

There were also a few pictures included, showing charred buildings from above, some of which were still smoking.

Chifuyu looked at her screen, not knowing what to think of this.

Given the most recent events, it was only logical to conclude that the Red Star was somehow involved in this. However, given the circumstances in Iran, something like this would have happened sooner or later. The question was whether this was pure coincidence or if the Red Star was involved.

Chifuyu sighed before turning off her computer and leaving her office. If she remembered right, some students in the cafeteria wouldn't make it in time if they weren't reminded to do so.

On her way to the cafeteria, she encountered Hoseok with a tray in his hands.

"Sarashiki-San." She said, making him stop abruptly.

"Yes?"

"Come to my office after the lessons. We need to talk about your way of accommodation."

"Yes." He replied noddingly before continuing his walk down the hallway.

When he arrived back at the infirmary, he put the tray on one of the many shelfs there and then walked over to Tatenashi's bed.

As he stood in front of her bed, he looked down upon his sister who seemed to be in the realm of dreams right now.

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and regularly. Whenever she inhaled she lifted the bed covers up a bit only for them to sink down when she exhaled again. The last time her saw her like that was... nine, ten years ago or so. In any case, it had been too long and the two of them had become estranged from one another. Back then, he didn't really care, but now that he was seeing her like that… He just couldn't believe that he'd ever had such thoughts on his family.

Anyway, it was time to wake her up, so he grabbed her cheek with two fingers and pulled on it.

As he did so, Tatenashi grabbed his wrist, making him let go of her cheek immediately.

"You like taking advantage of people, don't you?" She asked him smilingly, her eyes wide open.

"Goddamn, I knew you were awake." He said, half laughing, half ranting.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't." Tatenashi mocked laughingly. "Anyways, what's that smell? I like it."

"I just… uh… brought some food from the cafeteria." He replied while scratching the back of his head.

"How nice of you." Tatenashi smiled. However, something was off about that smile. It almost seemed faked to him.

But why would that be? Tatenashi really shouldn't have any reason to hide her feelings from him.

He didn't realize that he was still staring into Tatenashi's eyes, when she asked him:" Could you please bring me the tray? I can't reach it from here."

He nodded and turned around, proceeding to take the tray from the shelf.

When he got back to the bed, Tatenashi had already sat up and put her bed sheet away.

Hoseok put the tray down in front of her and watched as she examined the food before taking the chopsticks.

While Tatenashi enjoyed her meal, Hoseok sat down at a small table, opposite to Tatenashi's bed.

He activated wrist projector and began searching for any new articles about the situation in Lisbon that might have been published.

After some more time, he finally managed to speak to her.

"Say, Tatenashi." He began slowly and she looked up.

"What are you going to do about Shimo?"

Sounding determined, Tatenashi replied: "I will find him… and I will make him pay for what he did back then."

"And how do you want to manage that? I mean, you saw what he can stand up to. How in the world do you think you stand chance against him?"

"Are you questioning the Family's ability to prevail against threats?" He couldn't tell exactly, but he felt as if Tatenashi was glaring at him.

He put his wrist projector at standby and turned so that his whole body was pointing to Tatenashi.

"To be honest." He began. "I do."

Dead silence filled the room as he spoke these words and for a moment he asked himself if it had been wrong say something at all.

Suddenly, Tatenashi said: "Unless you can back up your claim, I won't consider it valid."

Before Hoseok could reply, Tatenashi's phone rang.

* * *

A mortar shell hit the ground and exploded, lighting up the camp

The soldiers that had been sitting around for the past minutes almost fell out of their chairs.

Realizing what was going on, the squad leaders began yelling orders, either in Russian or in German.

A few moments later, some tents were opened and the soldiers that had been sleeping just seconds ago stormed outside.

One of the lookouts in the cargo towers took his rangefinder and began scouting for enemies in the area.

While the soldiers were scrambling for their equipment, Vadim stepped outside the command tent and stormed towards one of the cargo towers.

"SOLDIER!" He shouted, successfully gaining the lookout's attention. "DO YOU HAVE ANY VISUAL?"

"NO, SIR." The lookout shouted back.

After a moment of brief consideration, he jogged back to the tent, entered and came back out again, this time with a loudspeaker in his hand.

"Everyone listen up." He spoke.

As soon as the soldiers heard his voice, they stopped roaming all over the camp and directed their gazes towards him.

"We're abandoning this position. Disassemble the camp and regroup at Line Victor. I need five squads to provide fire support."

The squad leaders began shouting a new set of orders at their subordinates. Some of them took their positions at the sandbags while the larger portion of the soldiers began disassembling the camp.

Just then, another mortar shell hit the ground, taking several soldiers with it.

"Hurry up!" Vadim shouted.

Suddenly, the soldiers, standing behind the sandbags, began firing their rifles at the nearby hill. It looked like they had found the spotters.

Next, Vadim pulled out his communicator and called Aileen.

"I can read you. What's the matter?" She asked.

"Red Star's advancing too rapid. We're falling back to Line Victor. Meet me at the primary command point."

"Understood."

Vadim put his communicator back when he noticed that the soldiers at the sandbags had stopped firing.

"We got 'em." One of them exclaimed.

"Very good." Vadim shouted. "Now help disassemble the camp."

The soldiers immediately abandoned their positions and began supporting their other comrades.

Only minutes later, the tents and other equipment were stowed away in the back of the trucks and everyone was ready to go.

Vadim entered the lead vehicle and gave the driver their destination.

Slowly, the convoy set in motion.

The ride was silent. No one said a word. Not while the convoy dragged itself through the forested hillsides, not when they saw the orange glow of towns being set ablaze.

Neither he nor the drivers were oblivious to the fact that, out here, they were vulnerable.

Therefore, he could feel how the trucks were pushed to their limits, almost reaching a hundred-and-ninety kilometers per hour.

While the trucks were racing through the night, Vadim's heart was beating so hard, he feared that his chest would burst open at any moment.

After what felt like an eternity, they reached the town that had been designated as Primary Command Point-Line Victor (PCP-Line Victor) by the White Star. However, to the locals it was known by the name Caldas da Rainha, he concluded, reading one of the road signs.

Finally, the convoy arrived in the small town and Vadim was somewhat surprised as he looked on his watch only to find out that no more than twenty minutes had passed since they left the second line.

The streets of the town were fairly empty with only a few people outside. Most of them were dressed in camouflage suits and military equipment was scattered all over the walkways.

Suddenly, the truck halted abruptly and Vadim's head almost hit the board in front of him.

Looking out the front window, he spotted a row of soldiers, most likely Portuguese, with their weapons pointed at the truck.

"Great." Vadim muttered as he slowly felt drops of sweat forming on his forehead.

He hopped out of the truck and raised his hands.

Luckily, the Portuguese didn't shoot at him.

He spent a time, standing there with his arms raised until he saw how someone squeezed through the row of soldiers.

The person walked towards him and he wasn't surprised when he realized that it was a woman.

"Well, hello there." He greeted her with the little knowledge in English that he had.

"Greetings as well." The woman replied.

"Do you mind?" He asked. "I don't speak English very well."

"I don't mind. Dois-je parler français? Oder doch lieber Deutsch? A russkiy?"

„I think Russian would be appropriate." He replied in his native tongue.

"Hey, I can get on that. Now let's start of with the most important thing: Who are you why are you here?"

At that, he raised his eyebrows, trying to look surprised.

"I'm surprised that your spies didn't tell you. In that case, my name is Vadim Sidorovich Tsvetkov, General Overseer of the White Star."

He put his arm on his chest while slightly bowing down as he said this. As he stood straight again, he began talking once more:" I didn't expect the famous Miss Orion-Sarashiki to show up here."

Whatever she had expected him to say, this was not it, as he could conclude when seeing her eyes widen.

"Anyways." He continued. "I propose a cooperation between our organizations. For the time being, that is."

She looked at him.

"Is there any good reason I should trust you?" She asked.

"Oh please, Madam. I'm not asking for your trust. The only thing I ask for is a partnership." He replied.

"And why should I accept such a partnership?" She didn't sound all too interested.

"Well, as you surely know, the White Star has a total manpower of around a million men, which still makes us outnumbered four to one, however, the White Star really is the only force that possesses high enough chances of winning against the Red Star." He explained, although the last part may be overstated a bit.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked again.

"In other words, without us, you're screwed."

She looked at him and said: "You know, I don't think so. Although the Red Star has the initiative right now, the tide will turn eventually. We don't need any help from mercenaries."

At that, Vadim had to chuckle. "You may be right, but that'll take time. Time, tears, blood and lives. Lives of innocents on top of that. Now, I'll ask you one question: What is more important to the Sarashiki Family? Keeping your precious information or keeping the stability in Europe?"

He couldn't exactly tell her facial expression in the dark, but it seemed to be something between shock and cluelessness.

"I won't rush you. However, you have acknowledge the fact that, if you don't ally with the White Star, you'll make things more difficult for yourself as well as us." He said.

The girl put her hand to her chin and looked at the ground for quite some time, before saying: "I'll have to ask our leader about that. Still, in my opinion we're both better off if we don't fight each other."

She gestured at the soldiers who then took down their rifles.

Vadim sighed in relief. The situation had been defused.

"If you don't mind." He began. "We're setting up a command post here to make it easier for the rest of our men to regroup."

"That won't be a problem, as long as you don't pull any tricks." She replied while stepping through the line of armed men.

Vadim turned around and walked back.

When he got back into the truck, he grabbed the mic and said: "Everyone, dig into defensive positions. I want this place a fortress when the Red Star arrives."

He hopped out again and hurried to follow the girl with woman-like proportions through the row of armed men.

He managed to barely catch a glimpse of her, entering a building next to the street.

When he was about to enter as well, he froze. Whatever she was doing right now, she surely wanted to do it alone, otherwise she wouldn't have gone inside.

He turned around and called the lead driver, wanting to know his position.

As it turned out, the driver had picked a very impressive, tall-standing building in the town's park. As he found out by having a quick look on the inscriptions on the walls, it used to be a roman thermae.

"Julius would have liked this." He thought when standing in front of the holodesk and inspecting the enormous inside of the building.

Looking around, he spotted three men, two of which carried around a ladder while the one following them had two rolled-up pieces of cloth under his arms.

Vadim watched as the two of them put the ladder up against the wall and the third one put down one of the rolls, then climbed up. Once on the top, he attached the other cloth to one of the many cracks that had formed in the rock over time and unrolled it, revealing a star, white as snow, on a ground, red as blood.

They repeated the procedure on the opposite wall and Vadim shivered slightly as he saw their banner unroll again.

He had been familiar with this symbol for, what, seven years now? He shouldn't even move his eyebrow when he saw it, but somehow, he couldn't help but shiver respectfully whenever he saw it.

Was it because of how majestic the symbol was? Because of what it stood for? Because of his friends, serving under the same banner? Or maybe something else? Only god could tell, and he decided that it should stay that way.

He put his hand on the activation panel and waited until his handprint had been verified.

The surface of the desk lit up and a projection of Portugal shimmered into existence.

The map hadn't changed since he'd last seen it. Torres Vedras was still marked as destroyed and everything south of it was covered in a layer of red. Lisbon was fully under Red Star control and Sétubal, south of Lisbon Bay, wasn't much better off.

On the panel appeared a number of options, including "project enemy movements".

Vadim pressed the spot.

At first, the movements were shown in real time, which meant that Vadim couldn't make out anything. Therefore, he put the projection-time-ratio at 15:1, allowing him to see everything that would happen within the next hour when, in reality, it only took four minutes.

He watched silently as the red carpet expanded northwards and small pop-ups of predicted events appeared all over the map.

After approximately one minute, he stopped the simulation when he saw the pop-up titled "assault on Caldas Da Reinha begins".

A quick look on the timer revealed to him that this was supposed to take place in about twenty minutes. A pretty narrow time corridor, he noticed.

Luckily, a bunch of familiar voices caught his attention. He turned around to see Aileen and other high-ranking members of the White Star enter the thermae.

"Sitrep." He ordered and Aileen promptly began: "Last time we heard about the Red Star, they were sending small reconnaissance parties in our direction, however we couldn't make out any larger forces."

"So nothing out of the ordinary?" He asked.

"Not really. It's just the usually: Spy, strike, overrun." Aileen answered.

"Very well." He nodded and went on: "If we can believe the simulation, this position will come under attack in about twenty minutes. We don't have enough men to pose a legitimate threat to the Red Star's plans, however, I think we can slow them down a bit."

"Captain Whitehall." Vadim began, turning to one of the present captains. "What's the status of your SST-Battalion?"

"They've left Marseille's urban area at the same time we got word of Operation LV. They probably should be in Spain somewhere." The captain said.

"We need them at the Faro District to make the Red Star believe that we have forces in the south as well." Vadim explained.

"Hit and Run, I guess?." The captain asked curiously.

"Whatever you see fit." He replied and turned his attention to the next point.

Just as he wanted to start talking, he noticed how the Sarashiki-girl walked through the entrance of the thermae.

She had an unworried expression on her face and walked in a light pace, considering the current situation.

"Great news." She said as she positioned herself next to Vadim. "I've just talked to our leader and got a allowance for our partnership." Then, she lifted her finger. "However, I am not permitted to give you access to all our intel unless you prove to be a worthy partner."

"General Overseer, what is going on here?" Aileen asked confused.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you. We made a last-minute deal with the Sarashiki Family." Vadim explained.

"I see." Aileen said. "I hope you did think this through, Overseer."

"Quite frankly, I didn't. It just so happened that there was an opportunity." Vadim admitted.

"God help us." Aileen said as she buried her face in her hands. Vadim just laughed.

"Extraordinary problems require extraordinary solutions." The Sarashiki-girl barged into the discussion.

"I couldn't agree more." Vadim said laughingly before his face turned back to normal and he continued in a serious voice. "For now, we'll have to work with what intel the Family is willing to share with us. As a sign of good will, we could give you the things we know about the Red Star."

"Good idea." The Sarashiki-girl said. "You could start with their manpower, dossiers on their leaders, financial resources and arms suppliers."

"That's a long list, you know?" Vadim chuckled. "If you'd asked us twelve or more years earlier, we might have been able to give it to you. Sadly, things have changed since then."

"Is there anything that you can give me?" The girl asked.

"Well, we can say for sure that this is an all-or-nothing operation for the Red Star." Vadim replied.

She raised an eyebrow. "How can you tell?"

"One of the few things we know about the current Red Star is the fact that their manpower is something about four million, all of whom are present in Portugal right now." He said.

"Sounds like a tough enemy."

"Well, it's only half as bad as it sounds. Only a quarter of these men are professionally trained for combat. The rest are researchers, engineers, analysts, intelligence, et cetera. However, they can fight and they gladly will, should they ever cross paths with something, or someone, they don't like." Vadim explained to her.

"That doesn't necessarily calms me down." The girl replied.

"Well, sorry if it sounded that way, but it wasn't my intention to make you less worried. I'm merely telling you what we know about the Red Star." Vadim countered.

"Anyways, do you have any more intel or is that all you can give us?" She asked.

"It's all were willing wo share with you right now." Vadim said and quickly added: "It's only natural. Once we have overcome certain… trust issues, we'll be able to work closer together."

"Very well." The girl said and Vadim wondered if he'd heard a trace of irony in her voice.

He redirected his gaze on the holomap and examined the assets they had in the area.

He frowned.

15,000 men wasn't nearly enough to even slow the Red Star down and the fact that all of them were infantry didn't help matters. However, they were specially trained for combat in hilly and mountainous terrain. Right now, this was not an advantage, but if the frontline continued to move inlands, the Red Star would soon face the mighty Pyrenees. And then they were screwed. Then again, it wouldn't come that far, so he had to think of other ways to avoid casualties.

Right?

"Is there something wrong?" Aileen asked as she noticed his frown-face.

"I'm just thinking." He replied. "Maybe it'd be better if we ordered a full-on retreat.

Now raising his head, he looked into a set of faces, blank stares directed at him-

"You are partly right. We are taking an extremely high risk here." One of the captains spoke.

"If that'd be our only concern." Vadim thought to himself, letting out a sigh.

Beside having to take care of his men, Vadim had been tasked with ending the mass-killing as soon as possible. If he allowed the Red Star to proceed, hundreds of thousands would die, but if he tried slowing their advance now, he and everyone else would go down as well. On top of that, they resistance they could put up would last a day, at best. Sacrificing 15,000 lives to change the outcome to a marginal degree? Surely, the Motherland would remember them as heroes and it would make a good impression on the Europeans, but it was neither his people's glory nor the westerner's respect he wanted. In fact, he was only here because he had been ordered to. If it was for him, Europe should succumb on the battlefield.

His hatred for the Red Star was big, but the concern about his own men was bigger. Why should he sacrifice them to protect failed empires? Failed bulwarks of democracy? Failures in general?

At one point in history, Europe had been the greatest of them all. The rulers of the world. But they let their guard down what ultimately led to their fall. First, when they allowed a major war to break out, crushing everyone's dreams and hopes in the process. Second, when they allowed a failed painter to take over Germany. Everyone with at least a bit of brains in his mind should have seen where this was going. Third, when they allowed their colonies to break away, sparking numerous conflicts, some of which were still lasting today.

And now was the fourth time. In his eyes, it wasn't a fight against the IS, but a reminder to Europe. As if someone wanted to say to them: "What happens right now is your fault and yours alone."

He didn't hate the European people because of what they were, but because they way the acted in politics.

Within the last thirty years three countries had tried to leave the European Union: Great Britain, Hungary and Poland.

They succeeded in leaving the Union, but their politicians failed to bring to the people what they had promised them: Stability, independence and wealth.

From what he had learned in his ninth-grade politics classes, these three countries were the most violent, corrupt and poorest in their respective regions of Europe.

Although only after the third time, Brussel's bureaucrats finally realized what was at stake and so did the other European countries. In the following years, the European Union grew closer together. Their bureaucracy grew more efficient and their people more consequential. At this point, it was safe to say that the European Union was, at least on market level, a superpower.

However, one thing that hadn't changed was their security policy. The number of terrorist attacks remained the same throughout all the years and when the great terror networks finally failed, no one made the effort to fix the security leaks that had been exploited so many times.

Apparently, the Europeans hadn't realized and that was going to be their downfall. Millions were going to die and no matter what measures were taken against the Red Star, in the end, it was the European's fault, and nothing could ever change that.

But he couldn't make the people pay for the way their politicians acted, could he?

"You know, the funny thing about democracy is that, in the end, it's always the people's fault."

These words were echoing inside his head as he thought about it. Galen was right, he thought. Single persons were able to misuse power, so why should it be different with the people? After all, the only difference was their number.

He was ripped form his thoughts by Aileen, raising her voice: "I'm afraid I have to join the General Overseer in this matter. We're at risk of losing our bridgehead and only way to monitor the frontlines. Putting up resistance now would lead to nothing."

The formal tone she spoke with didn't surprise him. The fact that they were married was just that, a fact. It wasn't something to brag about and in addition it was better to keep the seriousness in the job. Both he and Aileen knew this and therefore spoke with respect to one another when they weren't alone.

Vadim knew a bunch of people that approached the matter differently and in his eyes, that was perfectly fine. Every way to do something brought its advantages and disadvantages. He and Aileen dealt with theirs, therefore he let other people deal with theirs as well.

He was ripped from his thoughts yet again, this time by the Sarashiki-girl.

"Does that mean you're just going to run for it? What about the partnership? Ta- Our leader won't be pleased if you let the Red Star proceed. She already told me to take every possible measure to stop them."

"And so do we." Vadim replied. "We've mobilized every single of our assets across the globe and at this moment there are about 985.000 troops, moving to this country. By air, by land, by sea. Hell, we'd even deliver them per missile if we could. The point is that, right now, we can't put up a fight. However, I assure you that we'll do everything we can, once our assets are in place."

Some of the captains, plus Aileen, nodded approvingly. It seemed that they were as keen on getting out of here as he was.

The Sarashiki-girl looked at the map, considering her options. After a while, she looked up and asked: "How long until your next shipment of troops arrives?"

Vadim pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the map of Lisbon disappeared and made way for a map of the earth's surface. Countless dots were moving across it, all focused on a common destination.

The nearest points were north, south and east, coming from Great Britain, Central Europe, Morocco and Algeria.

However, there was one point to Portugal's west, just passing over the Azores.

Vadim pressed another button, allowing him to see information about this particular unit.

"Good news." He said as he turned back to the Sarashiki-girl. "Our Dux Aerialis is about to make his touchdown in Santarem."

"Excuse me?" She looked at him.

"The highest-ranking member of our air force." He explained to her. However, she looked even more confused now that he'd mentioned the lifted-off branch of their armed forces.

"The White Star has an air force?"

At that, Vadim had to refrain from rolling his eyes. It didn't sit with him that she was asking so many questions. Then again, it was his fault that she was here in the first place.

"Yes." He replied. "Is that really so surprising?"

"Well, I know next to no PMCs that have their aerial forces organized as an own branch." She said.

"That's probably because the PMCs you know are using their aerial vehicles only for transport and therefore have them organized in an air corps. However, the White Star is different. We're using aircraft on a much larger scale than most and therefore we can afford to have an dedicated air force."

After a quick break, he added: "It's mostly equipment from the Cold War, therefore we can only engage inferior targets like terrorists and other PMCs."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"From what I've been told the last minutes, the Red Star doesn't seem to be an inferior target."

Vadim chuckled.

"Well, the Red Star is a different story." He said. "Do you have any other questions? If not, I propose we get the fuck out of here."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" The girl asked.

Vadim motioned at the soldiers to begin disassembling the mobile headquarters.

After just five minutes, everything had been packed and Vadim was just boarding the truck, knowing that, across town, the other soldiers were preparing to move out as well.

Just then, he heard someone knock on his window.

He turned his head, surprised the see the girl standing there.

Lowering the window, he asked: "What do you want?"

"I need to know where I'll find you, once you're out of here. I still have some business to do here." She replied.

"Our next destination will be the town of Rio Maior. If we do our journey in small steps, we can pick up our forces bit by bit until we have enough men to withstand an offensive. That way, we won't risk losing too much area to the Red Star." He said.

"Alright." She stepped off and jogged away between the buildings.

As the driver finally sat down on his seat, Vadim gave him the order and they drove out of the town, the rest of the convoy following behind them.

* * *

"Just what are they up to?"

Lucius stood bent over the holodesk, his gaze steadily shifting from Portugal to Central Germany.

The question he had just asked was directed at the Centuriones Aerialines, however, they seemed equally clueless.

The Red Star had activated their reserve divisions the same time that almost all of their forces were sweeping through Portugal. This was no coincidence.

"Do we have any specific information about troop movements, manpower or anything else?" He asked.

"There are no specifications on any of those, however, we've intercepted some messages in which an individual of extraordinary… strength is mentioned."

"Show me." He demanded and copies of the messages shimmered into existence in front of him.

He looked at them for a while and he indeed found mentions of a person who seemed to possess extraordinary capabilities, especially in hand-to-hand combat.

"Do you think it could be one of the Council Assets?" He asked, wrinkles forming on his forehead.

"Perhaps." Was the reply. "We haven't fully evaluated them yet, but it seems likely."

"That's bad." He muttered in response. "If they really have one of the Council Assets with them, we are doomed."

"If it's really a Council Asset, why do they have a full-fledged combat force with them?"

"Perhaps they want to open another front in Europe." Lucius surmised.

"To be honest, Dux, that's unlikely."

"Why?"

"Such a front would be unsustainable. It's in the middle of Central Europe, with the main combat force thousands of kilometers away. On top of that, it would be vulnerable to LKEs that are stationed outside the Red Star's ELAR."

"Then what would they activate their reserve forces for?"

"Terrorism. If they defeat the Germans and manage to return into hiding, that would make for good propaganda. And if they manage to give a "subtle" hint that they have reserves all around the world, the terror would spread to lands that they haven't set a foot on…. Yet."

"That sounds reasonable well." He replied. "However, as of now, I think, we should think of a way to defeat them. We can take care of the rest afterwards."

"Good thinking… So, what exactly are we going to do?"

"If I knew, I would have told you already." Lucius said and sighed. "Right now, it's just too dangerous. We don't know the strength and composition of their troops, therefore we don't know how many of our own to send of we want to respond effectively."

"How about we ask General Overseer Tsvektov? Perhaps he has got some informants in the area."

"Probably. But it's a risk, since there's a high possibility that the Red Star will intercept our messages. If he has the information and can relay it to us, we need to act quick."

"Understood. We'll initiate contact as soon as you're ready."

Lucius nodded and went from leaning over the desk to standing straight. He turned around and grabbed his beret.

After he had adjusted the beret's position he nodded at the communications officer, who immediately established contact.

It took a few moments, but then a little notification popped up over the table. It read "Nur Ton".

Lucius sighed. So the beret act had been for naught.

Suddenly, voice of the General Overseer spoke: "This is General Overseer Tsvetkov, how can I help you?"

"It's Dux Aerialis Ruberius here. We've been detecting Red Star forces in the Harz Forest in Germany. We don't know what they're up to and therefore need confirmation on the strength. Reckoned you might have information on that subject." He replied.

"Red Star forces in Germany?" The General Overseer asked, hereby sounding rather unsurprised. "Yeah, wait a moment, I'll see what I can get you."

For a few moments, there was silence, in which the sounds of an engine could be heard over the comms.

Then, the General Overseer spoke up again: "Okay, so I've found the following: We know of a Red Star Milition who goes by the name of Lars. He's been responsible for the attack on the Schwarzer Hase HQ a few week prior. However, there's at least one other Milition we know of; Identity unknown."

"Anything else?" Lucius asked.

"There's nothing else, really." The General Overseer replied.

"Okay, thank you."

"I'm always glad to be of help. General Overseer Tsvetkov, out."

With those words, the notification disappeared and the interior went silent.

A moment later, the holographic map of Europe reappeared with all positions of known Red Star forces marked with their symbols.

"So." Lucius began. "There's two Militions we know of. Considering what we know about the Red Star's troop formations, this means that there could be up to two-thousand men down there."

For a moment, there was silence, then he spoke up again: "Show me what assets are in the area."

Another moment went by, then a number of blue dots appeared all over the map, moving towards the Iberian Peninsula.

After a short search, he found the dot that was closest to the location of the Red Star forces.

An info tab appeared right over the dot.

12th Special Forces Swarm  
Part of: 1st Special Forces Aerial Fleet  
Composition: 10 TTABs, 30 MAJs, 20 MZ-LKWs  
Manpower: 400 Airborne Infantrymen, 110 Aircraft Crew,  
Commanding Officers: Kurt Löhr (Swarm Commander), Maximillian von Richthofen (Airborne Commander)

It wasn't much to work with, but if they did it right, they would be able to overwhelm the Red Star even with five times less the manpower.

* * *

Tatenashi was lying on her bed, the phone still in hand and staring at the ceiling.

She didn't know what to think about this.

To her, it all felt pretty much like the Sarashiki Family had been forced into the partnership.

But if it had been a one-sided deal, she would have refused. No doubt, the White Star had its secrets and it wouldn't hurt to get her hands on those in exchange for some of their own.

However, she was well aware of the fact that White Star knew that the opposite was true as well. Eventually, they would come up with an excuse to get their hands on the most valuable sources of intel the Sarashikis had, the only question was, when.

"Tatenashi."

She sat up at Hoseok calling her name.

He sat on the table on the opposite side of the room. His laptop bag was laying next to him and he had his wrist projector activated.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I've just received some intel from Medea. She says that the Red Star's troops are abandoning the front lines."

Her eyes widened.

"Show me."

Hoseok stood up, went over and held the screen right in front of her face. There she could see a bunch of holographic maps with Red Star positions on them. They changed over time.

On the end, there was a message attached: "Should I tell the White Star?"

Tatenashi read the lines a few times over and then looked into Hoseok's eyes.

"Should she do it?" Was all he asked.

Tatenashi shook her head.

"Will I get an answer if I ask why?"

She nodded and replied: "There's no other way to find out if the White Star is undermining us."

"Well, if you say so." Hoseok replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Anyways." He continued. "I've found out a few things about the White Star that I don't like."

"I'm all ears."

"It's something in the financial sector." Hoseok began. "I did some quick studies about Private Military Contractors and I've found out that the average cost for one merc is something between 44.500 to 72.400 Yen a day, however the White Star offers the single merc for only 2.700 to 5.500 Yen a day. That totally defeats the point of a PMC. Sure, they have to provide their service as cheap as possible, but with prices as low as this, they should've gone bankrupt years ago. You simply can't make enough money to run a company with such low prices."

"Why would they do such a thing?" Tatenashi asked.

"So far it's only a theory, but I think that there's an outside source of money for the White Star that provides them with everything they need in order to remain in the business. However, the fact that their prices are not coherent to basic economic laws means that they have to be after something different than money."

"Yeah, I figured that much." Tatenashi said.

"I think that there might be a good chance that they will disappear after the Red Star is defeated." Hoseok suddenly said.

"You need to explain this." Tatenashi spoke slowly.

"Right now, the White Star is the most powerful PMC both in terms of technology and manpower. However, if they wanted to remain in the market even after the Red Star was defeated, they wouldn't have put their prices so low. You know, in my opinion, they use their status as PMC just as a disguise to hide the fact that they are a counter-organization to the Red Star. When the Red Star is defeated, they will have fulfilled their purpose." He cleared his throat and continued. "But that's just my theory."

"I see." Tatenashi replied. "So far, that seems reasonable."

Hoseok just nodded and sat back down at the table, quietly devoting his attention to his work.

After some time, Hoseok carefully lifted his head to look at his sister.

She was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and breathing steadily.

Silently, Hoseok deactivated his wrist projector and shifted his body towards her.

He cleared his throat, making her look up.

"Yes? Is there something you want to say?" She asked.

In this moment, he realized that he could never ask the question he wanted to ask just now. However, if he dismissed it, she would know that he was hiding something from her.

So instead, he just said: "I'm worried about Shimo."

"You think he might try and take out the rest of us?" Tatenashi looked at him questioningly.

"I'm worried in general. Shimo was never working for Phantom Task. It's much more apparent now, that the Red Star is onto our heads." He replied.

"You're not telling me anything new." Tatenashi said in a flat voice.

At that, Hoseok felt a first drop of sweat, forming in his forehead. He racked his mind to find another way of carrying the conversation.

"You know." He began anew. "I kind of think that we're a prime target to the Red Star."

"Why else would they send a person like Shimo to eliminate us?" Again, Tatenashi was one step ahead in thinking.

Crap, he thought. If it went on like this, she would notice that he had something to hide. But if he abandoned the conversation, the same would happen. He was running out of options.

"Why else, you ask?" He muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Tatenashi asked.

"Why else, you ask." Hoseok repeated his words, much louder and in a firm voice.

Before Tatenashi could respond, he continued: "Perhaps, because they don't want us to go down yet."

Tatenashi looked at him, no movement in her face.

"Explain." She demanded.

He took a few moments to sort out what he was about to say and then began.

"We've suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Red Star. Yet in spite of that event, we've managed to stand up to Phantom Task at the moment when they could've destroyed us. I think that the Red Star needs us to test out Phantom Task's limits and therefore, they won't destroy us just yet."

After he finished, Tatenashi remained silent for a while and then said: "I like this theory, but as long as we don't have any solid proofs, I'll have to dismiss it."

"I'll gladly search for them." Hoseok said as he grabbed his bag and pulled out his laptop.

Even if his hacking attempts were to be traced back to the Academy, if the Red Star wanted to kill him, there were still dozens of IS between him and them.

* * *

"Forward." Lars ordered and the soldiers stormed onto the empty road. Like a flash, they crossed the gap between the buildings and took cover behind the next one.

"Clear." The squad commander shouted and Lars himself got moving.

He pressed himself against the wall and peeked around the corner.

No one there.

"First street is clear." He shouted in his communicator. "All troops, move in."

At this moment, he knew, that at the other end of the field, the mortar crews stood up, their disassembled mortars in their backpacks, and began making their way into the town.

He motioned at his men to keep pressing forward and again, they rushed across the street, spending as little time as possible in an exposed area.

"Clear."

Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the sky.

Completely dazzled, Lars drew his gun when he realized what was going on.

Frost landed in front of him, looking as always. Well, except for the bandage around his lower torso, which Lars had put in place. Except for this one, he knew that Frost's thigh was bandaged as well.

"There you are." Lars exclaimed joyfully. Although he wouldn't admit it, he was a little bit worried when Frost went of to somewhere without telling someone first, however that hardly mattered as Frost almost always came back, safe and sound.

"Missed me?" Frost asked.

"Nah, we're just doing fine, taking the town." Lars replied.

"Well, then I guess I can go take a nap at the HQ." Frost said in a flat voice

"You can, but I'd feel much safer if you'd be here with us. Just in case, you know." Lars said.

"Very well." Frost nodded.

He positioned himself next to Lars and he gave the signal for another advance.

The soldiers dashed across the street, Frost and Lars following right behind them.

"Clear. No enemy contact so far." Frost said.

"Alright, but keep watching your back." Lars replied.

"Did you check the houses?" Frost asked suddenly.

"I have a few men on it." Lars answered.

"Very good."

They continued to scour the streets of the town until they reached the abandoned church building. The top of its tower had been blown off and some of its windows had been shattered.

"That's the place where the Germans had their headquarters." Frost seemed a bit startled.

"How do you know?" Lars asked.

"I've just been there, spying at them." Frost replied.

"Did you find out anything?"

"Except for that they were here just a few minutes ago?" Frost asked. "Not much."

"I see."

Suddenly, Frost took a turn to the right, aiming at the small plaza next to the church.

When he arrived on the plaza, he walked a few more steps and then knelt down.

From behind, Lars could only see that Frost removed his mouth protection and put his hand on the ground.

After some time, his shoulders began jolting up and down rapidly. It was then that Lars realized Frost was actually laughing.

He put back on his mouth protection, stood up and turned around.

"What was that just now?" Lars asked Frost as he took position next to him.

"Some weird shit has been going down here." Frost replied chuckling.

"But a minute before, you said that you didn't see anything interesting." Lars noticed.

"It's just a theory so far." Frost said. "I could be wrong as well, but that blood puddle's made me curious."

"Blood puddle?" Lars was confused.

"Yeah, there's a blood puddle over there." Frost pointed at the plaza and at first, Lars couldn't make out anything, but then he saw the black spot.

"What did you just do there?" He then asked.

"I've looked at the puddle. It was quite a view, don't you think?"

"That's up to debate." Lars replied. "Anyways, we should keep going."

"Agreed."

They began walking over the pavement, always attentive to not get too far away from the cover the houses did provide to them.

After some time, they came to a small hill, supported by a stone wall in which a staircase was embedded.

Lars gestured at his men to take two squads and secure the end of the stairs. Then he waved another squad through, this time ordering them to climb the hill.

They did as ordered and a few moments later, signaled that the hilltop was clear. Lars waved through the rest of his men and went up the staircase, Frost following behind him.

On the hilltop, he spotted a collection of buildings through the barren trees.

"Any unusual readings?" He asked Frost.

Frost looked at the buildings for a time and then replied curtly: "Nothing there."

Lars gestured again and waited until he was sure that everyone had received the order. Then he snuck through between the trees, followed by Frost and the other men. Eventually, he reached the wall of one of the buildings at the hill's other side

Lars ordered another squad forward the secure the pathway, sandwiched between the two buildings. Further away, there was a rail track and just behind that, another hill, completely blocking their way. If there was an ambush, it would be here.

In the first moments where the men were in the open, nothing happened and he almost let out a sigh of relief. However, shit could happen. Anywhere, at any time.

Upon reaching the end of the pebble pathway next to the building, he turned his head left and saw that the rail track was leading onto a bridge that lead over a big trench.

He pulled out his compass and turned into the direction of the hill. The compass was pointing south, meaning that all they had to do was get past the hill.

He peeked to the right and spotted a small driveway, leading around the hill and into an area filled yet again with houses.

He signaled that it was safe for the rest of the company to get to his position. Frost walked up behind him, asking: "What are we going to do, once we're there?"

"We're going to see to it that we don't lose the another truck of explosives." Lars replied casually.

"Speaking of explosives…" Frost suddenly began.

"Where are the consignments?" Lars completed his question, a shocked expression forming on his face while he said that.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, but then Frost demanded hastily: "I need timed charges, grenades, mines and you, Lars."

"What?" Lars asked confused.

"No time to explain. Just give me the explosives." Frost demanded again

"You've heard him." Lars said as he turned to the Decurions behind them. "A bunch of mines and grenades. Now!"

It took only a minute, then Frost got what he had asked for.

"Follow me." He demanded and leaped onto the hill in front of them.

"Proceed to our destination as planned." Lars quickly ordered his decurions. "We need to be prepared when the Germans return."

"How long are you gong to let me wait?" Frost shouted from the top of the hill.

"On my way." Lars yelled back and proceeded to jump at least as high and as far as Frost.

* * *

Laura felt like she could slam her fist into a concrete wall and break it.

"Not enough manpower." She repeatedly mumbled those words, clenching her fists as hard as she could.

What was so hard about dispatching a few idle soldiers and sending them to fight against what was clearly a threat to their fatherland?

Every minute where there was no tank deployed was a minute lost to the Red Star. Why wouldn't the commander have it?

She grumbled and looked at the contrasting colors of white and black that were the trees and snow in the nightly forest.

The convoy was moving so slow that even a snail would have no problem keeping up with them. After a retreat had been ordered, they had packed up everything that didn't take more than one minute to load onto the trucks and were now on route back to the HQ.

Laura looked at the map.

The quickest route to get the wounded and the dead back to HQ would be through the forest in which they were in right now.

However, there was one thing that enormously bothered her.

Their route was leading over two smaller dams, chokepoints at which the convoy could be attacked and pinned down easily.

If the Red Star knew where they were going, they would have no problem intercepting them.

Laura had pointed out that problem to the convoy leader already, but nothing had changed. The convoy just kept moving at snail-pace.

"That's too slow. We need to move faster." She said and to herself, she sounded almost nervous.

"I know." Clarissa, sitting next to her, replied and sighed.

It seemed that to her, the situation was equally stressful.

Time dragged on while the trees only seemed to move by slower with every minute that passed.

Finally, the first dam came into sight and at that point, Laura felt how her heartbeat intensified.

She grabbed her rifle and sighed.

She had already overstepped the boundaries of the Alaska Treaty by deploying an IS in a combat zone. Luckily, she didn't have to worry about legal consequences since she didn't participate directly in the battle.

She didn't particularly like the restrictions the Alaska Treaty put on the usage of IS, especially when considering that she was so close to actually being able to bypass them.

The Alaska Treaty generally forbade the usage of IS against combatants, i.e. persons that were allowed to participate in combat, according to International Humanitarian Law. Normally, that excluded terrorists, however, the Red Star had managed to bypass that clause with one simple measure.

They wore uniforms, therefore clearly distinguishing themselves from the civilian population and indicating their affiliation with the organization.

Such persons had the status of privileged combatant and were therefore protected by the Laws of War and the respective clauses of the Alaska Treaty, the latter one forbidding the use of IS against them.

Laura sighed.

She loathed the existence of these laws, but at the same time recognized their necessity.

The first article of the German constitution stated that "human dignity was inviolable and to protect it was the duty of all state authority".

However, throughout history many had proven that this was not the case.

In Laura's eyes, it was the duty of all soldiers to protect the values of a free society and punish those who dared to defy them. As soldiers of the Federal Republic of Germany, it was their highest priority to defend the human dignity against those who sought to violate it.

However, at the same time, they had to be careful to not sink to the same level as their enemies. That's what the laws were for. To show that they were better since they were able to keep to their own principles.

Sometimes, however, that strategy backfired.

And now was one of that moments.

The Red Star were people that kicked human dignity with dirty boots, yes, they spat on it. And yet the fact that they were audacious enough to admit it openly was exactly what protected them from receiving a just punishment.

She was snapped back to reality, by the truck suddenly being lifted into the air.

A moment later it came back down and she realized that it only had been a hump.

Despite that, she felt a shiver running down her spine, reminding her of the grim situation they were in.

She looked up and to her relief, the convoy had passed over the dam without getting ambushed.

Somewhat relieved, Laura reminded herself that there was still one dam ahead. If the ambush wasn't at the one they had passed right now, it would be at the next one.

Time only seemed to stretch the further they went and to Laura it simply felt terrible.

In addition, there was an uneasy sensation in her stomach, something that felt as if her guts had been knotted together.

Suddenly, a few shots rang out in the silence of the night and the convoy came to a sudden halt.

Clarissa grabbed the communication device from the ceiling and shouted: "Don't stop. Keep driving."

However, they convoy didn't move.

Laura peeked out of one of the trucks armored windows, into the direction from where she had heard the shots coming.

There was a hill to the left of the truck. From there an attacker would have had an advantageous position, but right now, she couldn't make out anyone.

She was about to get back into her normal sitting position when suddenly a voice could be heard through the communicator.

"I apologize for the delay, but it seems that the attack has taken out the lead driver. She's just being loaded into the back of the truck."

Only moments later, the convoy set in motion again.

A few of the other soldiers sighed in relief and Laura was finally able to at least ease the grip around her weapon.

It would, however, not be the last time their journey would be interrupted so abruptly as she had to find out a few minutes later.

Another shot rang out into the night and the convoy came to another halt.

This time, the shot came from the other side of the road, so Laura ordered Clarissa to take a look, but she couldn't find anyone.

Just like before, the attack had been aimed at the lead driver and it was no secret what the attackers were aiming towards.

Through having to replace driver after driver, they were losing valuable time.

But eventually, this interruption was taken care of as well and the convoy began rolling along the unpaved street again.

Surely, this wouldn't be the last attack they would come under. Laura looked around in the truck. Where there had been occasional chatter there was now silence. The few faces that had shown occasional smiles had put on a façade of silent seriousness. These men had escaped from a death trap just to spring into another. Everyone knew this. There was tension in the air and not too little of it.

Eventually, what was expected became reality, just not in the way anyone had expected.

An explosion shook the ground and Laura had to grab onto Clarissa when the convoy stopped.

She could hear gunfire coming not from afar, but sounding like it was directly on the road in front of them.

"What's going on?" Laura demanded to know.

"The lead vehicle has run on a mine, it seems." The driver responded.

"Shit." Laura turned to Clarissa. "They have us pinned down. We need to get out and deal with them."

"Yes, Captain." Clarissa replied.

She opened the hatch in the ceiling and Laura peeked outside. She could see the smoke, coming from the lead vehicle and the muzzle flashes from the firefight in front of it. However, the actual battle was obscured by a pair of transport in front of her.

She heard glass crack and soldiers scream, then the guns went silent while the screaming went on for a few moments until it too, died off.

Laura quickly climbed out of the hatch and jumped off the side of the transport.

She landed on the ground and drew her rifle. She pressed the rest against her shoulder and began slowly walking down the unpaved road.

She passed the other two transports, on top of which soldiers were already climbing through the hatches.

When she reached the front vehicle, an obtrusive smell made its way into her nose.

It was a pungent smell, burning in her nose.

Mustard?

At the same time, she felt burning pain on her cheek.

Then, she realized.

Not Mustard.

Mustard gas.

Laura jumped backwards and yelled: "Put on your gasmasks. They're using chemical weapons."

She then proceeded back to her transport where Clarissa was already waiting with a gasmask for Laura.

She tossed it to her and Laura caught it. She took off her helmet and strapped the gasmask over her head. She then tightened the sleeves around her wrists and put the hood over her mask. Finally, she put her helmet back on. Her field of view had now been reduced to half and she could barely breath. She would just use her IS, but that was against the international guide lines.

Another explosion shook the ground and she saw how a column of flames ascended from the second vehicle.

At the same time, Clarissa landed on the ground next to her, having also put on a gas mask.

She gestured at Laura, asking if they should switch to the other side of the road as this was clearly where the fighting was taking place.

Laura nodded and they both snuck around the back of the transport while more and more soldiers were leaving the vehicles, all with gas mask strapped onto their heads.

It didn't take long until the next attack came and suddenly, they all were enveloped in yellow clouds. A sound from behind made the soldiers turn, but all they saw was how one of their fellow comrades lying on the ground, throat slid open and blood pouring onto the road.

Laura turned her head, trying to find the culprit behind the attack, but as soon as she eyed up her surroundings, a shot rang out in the night. All she saw was a muzzle flash to her right and how another soldier fell to the ground.

Then suddenly, even more shots were fired and she could see more muzzle flashes from farther behind on the road.

Laura turned into the direction of the firefight and began slowly stepping towards the place the sounds and flashes were coming from.

She stepped out of the cloud, followed by Clarissa and the other soldiers, only to be met by the sight of a Red Star mercenary, standing next to a truck while slicing open the throat of a German soldier.

When he spotted Laura, he threw away the corpse and leaped over the truck, landing on the other side of it. A moment later, another mercenary came forth from the back of the truck, his rifle drawn and aimed at the Germans.

Laura was quick to jump into the gap between the two transports at her side, thus getting out of his line of fire. However, the soldiers behind her weren't as lucky.

Before they could respond, the mercenary was pulling the trigger on his gun and mowing down the first line and then the second while all what Laura could see where the glowing bullet trails.

Finally, the direction which the bullet trails were going, changed. Laura peeked around the corner and then looked back at Clarissa. She was standing before a bunch of wounded soldiers, lying on the ground.

Laura gestured at her, wanting to know if they did hit him. Clarissa shook her head, when suddenly an explosion occurred behind her. She couldn't see the flames, but clearly felt the ground shaking. At this point, she looked back at Clarissa, making hasty gestures.

It seemed as if she wanted Laura to turn around. By the time Laura had performed the turn, the mercenary was already standing in front of her and grabbed the barrel of her weapon. When Laura pulled the trigger, he had already pushed the weapon aside. The muzzle flashed, but the bullets missed him by an arm's length and he pushed the rifle downwards.

At the same time, his other fist shot through the air, aimed directly at her face. She managed to barely evade it, but she lost the awareness of what was happening to her rifle and as a result, he ripped it out of her hands.

Her eyes followed the rifle for a brief moment, but then raced upwards again, just in time to make her realize that another fist was incoming.

She dodged it with little difficulties, but the next thing took her by surprise.

Out of nowhere, a knife had appeared in his hand and was now flying towards her gut. Laura barely managed to catch it and now both of them were trying to overpower each other.

Laura could feel how he slowly was winning the upper hand and decided that she had to find another way of getting into a position where she was able to attack. Therefore, she kicked his shin.

However, instead of hitting flesh and bones, she felt a hard material.

She looked at the mercenary's face and it was only then that she realized he was wearing gasmask too.

Suddenly, he pulled away the knife and she was almost pulled along, but managed to let go in time.

They both took distance from each other and she watched how he tossed the knife from one hand into the other.

He charged at her and Laura quickly drew her knife, but shortly before he reached her, he turned around and folded one if his legs together, thus dropping by a few feet in height. He stretched out his other leg while still spinning around.

Before Laura could react, his foot had scratched her leg and inflicted a heavy wound.

Laura sunk to her knees and held the bleeding spot, feeling the warm, red liquid through her glove.

She lifted her head and saw the mercenary standing in front of her, ready to strike with his knife. However, before he could do that, a bullet struck him in the shoulder and he stumbled a step back, holding his wound.

Laura turned around saw Clarissa standing there, the rifle aimed at the mercenary.

Before she could fire another shot however, the second mercenary came jumping down from the sky. He kicked the rifle out of Clarissa's hand and landed next to her. A quick strike at her head and he jumped again, this time over Laura, and landed behind the first mercenary.

He drew his handgun and fired a few shots at Clarissa while retreating into the cover of the transport alongside his friend.

For a brief moment, Laura was awaiting another attack, but nothing happened. Then suddenly, Clarissa put a hand on her shoulder an Laura looked at her.

Clarissa nodded as if she was trying to ask if Laura was okay. Laura snorted underneath the gasmask and pointed her open hand at the scratches on her leg.

Clarissa froze for a moment, when she saw how deep the scratches were. Apparently, she had reached the same conclusion: Whatever the mercenary had struck Laura with, it hadn't been his feet.

They both were distracted by the noise of a motor starting up. Clarissa helped Laura stand up and they both stepped to the side of the road to see where the noise was coming from.

They spotted how the two rearmost vehicles in the convoy, trucks they had captured from the Red Star, were driving slowly backwards, one of the mercenaries sitting at the steering wheel. He held his gun out of the window and fired a few shots, but all of them missed. Both of the trucks then turned around drove away. Firing at them didn't have any noticeable effect.

Laura took off her glove to see if there was still gas in the air. Luckily, it seemed that the gas had dissolved since she felt only the cold on her skin. The cloud in the middle of the convoy had also vanished.

Finally, she and Clarissa strapped of their gas masks, taking deep breaths.

After they had settled down, Clarissa said: "A rough fight, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Laura replied, gritting her teeth.

"It seems." Clarissa continued. "We should hurry up and clean this mess. Who knows when they'll come back."

"Yes." Laura replied and they both turned their attention to the bloody mess of soldiers and corpses that two mercenaries had caused.

* * *

Just as they passed over the dam, Frost stretched his arm out of the window, forming a fist, then braking.

Lars did the same and once he had stopped the truck, he turned off the engine. He saw how Frost hopped out of his truck and onto the road and decided that it would be best if he did too.

Frost walked towards him, his respirator still strapped around his head. While walking Lars could see how he was fumbling on the straps on the back of his helmet.

He stopped and pulled off the respirator, dropping it to the ground. He began panting heavily and it sounded like he could fall unconscious any moment.

Lars took off his respirator as well and asked: "Are you alright?"

Frost continued panting for a brief moment and then looked at Lars.

"That was AWESOME!" He exclaimed and Lars was a bit surprised by this sudden outbreak of emotion.

"You saw my moves, right?" Frost asked, still panting lightly.

In that moment, Lars smiled and replied: "Of course I did. Top, just as I would've expected from you."

"Thanks." Frost replied. "But yours were impressive as well, considering you haven't been doing this for years."

"Thank you." Lars replied and smiled sheepishly. It was then that the effect of the adrenalin began to wear off and the pain in his shoulder set in.

He gritted his teeth and held his shoulder. Frost put his arm around his back.

"Easy there." He said as he helped Lars sit down and lean against the tire of the truck.

He put his backpack on the ground and pulled out a piece of cloth that he rolled out on the ground. He then proceeded to put the medical equipment onto this cloth so that it wouldn't get dirty.

"Bandage is the best I can do right now." He said as he knelt down next to Lars.

"It's alright." Lars replied and chuckled while covering his glasses with his other hand.

"What's so funny?" Frost asked.

"The doctor's getting doctored." Lars chuckled. "Never thought I'd end up like that."

Now Frost chuckled too.

"Of course you didn't." He muttered while wrapping the bandage around Lars' shoulder. He finished by knotting it together.

"That'll hold until we can get you some proper treatment." He said while patting the side of Lars' upper arm.

"Appreciate it." Lars said, but something different had already caught Frost's attention. He was eyeing up the blood in Lars' talons.

He reached out with his hand, but then froze and asked: "May I?"

"What? The blood?... Sure, go on." Lars replied.

Frost took off his glove and swiped his index finger along the talon, thereby bloodying its skin.

With the other hand, he pulled down his balaclava and put the bloody finger into his mouth.

He pulled it out again and said: "Yup, that is definitely her blood. That taste is just unique. I love it."

Lars was used to the psychopathic behaviors Frost could show, so instead of reacting with rejection, he just made an approving sound.

He had always wondered why Frost hated this girl so much, but he had never gotten an answer from him or anyone else. Frost seemed to be very touchy in regards to whatever happened between them and he could go days without talking, should someone ask the wrong thing about it. In conclusion, it was better to wait until he would tell the tale on his own.

When that would be, Lars didn't know, but he was sure that it would happen. They were friends after all and friends had each other's back, no matter what.


End file.
